m^:"-;x'^-' •■■■ 










ti».' 



v' ♦ 






.'♦v, 
















.V. 



[!|;^.:i;-fer:f.::.:,:;-^; 








■ ' i 



A KEY TO THE BIBLE 



KEY TO THE BIBLE 



BEING 



AN EXPOSITlOJSr 



OF THE 



§kUx^, %nm^, mx^ §tmul fafos 



OF 



SACRED INTERPRETATION. 



DAVID DOBIE. 



« All scripture is given by inspiration of God ; and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correc- 
tion, for instruction in righteousness, tliat the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furniahed unto 
all good works,"— 2 Timothy, iii. 16. 




N^EW YOKK: • 
0. SCRIBTSrfiR, 3YY & 3Y9 BROADWAY, 



1856. 



Hi-I 



.-nL 



Enteked according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 

CHARLES SCRIBNER, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. 



Vr. H. TINSON, STKREOTYi-JEB, GBO. RUSSELL A CO., PKINTERS. 



PEEFACE 



The want of such a treatise as is here presented to the Christian 
public, we have reason to believe, has been widely felt. The every- 
day reader of the Bible has sought for such a work, that, through its 
aid, he might become his own commentator, and possess within him- 
self the means of understanding the difficult passages. The Bible- 
class teacher has desired it, as a reliable assistance in the work of 
interpretation ; hoping that, with such a book, he might answer 
objections with greater readiness, and impress more permanently on 
the minds of his scholars, the important lessons of the word of God. 
The student for the ministry has inquired for it, fully persuaded that 
such a work must be to him one of the most useful of all works, in 
the prosecution of his studies, and in preparing himself for the active 
duties of the pulpit. The pastor, engaged in the daily business of 
expounding the Scriptures, has searched for it for his own profit, 
and as a safe and useful book to put into the hands of the younger 
members of his flock, and even into the hands of those who, through 
ignorance or opposition, are disposed to urge objections against the 
Bible. He has felt that such a book was better than a commentary 
for such purposes : more direct, more comprehensive, less occupied 

with details, and affording the verv best means to honest inquirers 

5 



VI PREFACE. 

of satisfying themselves of the truth, and divine origin of the 
Scriptures. 

There is certainly a scarcity of such books. It was during a 
search for such a help to the understanding of some of the more 
difficult passages, that the thought of its composition was at first 
suggested ; and this thought, nourished by the kind words of a 
widely-distinguished friend and teacher of the science, has here 
found its expression. Since the design of its pubUcation became 
known, we are encouraged to believe it will be received by not a 
few as a welcome assistance in the work of interpreting the Sacred 
Volume. 

The book might have been made more scholastic in its plan and 
style, and more replete with sentences of Greek and Hebrew, but 
this would have defeated our design. It would have been repulsive 
to a great majority of those whom we desire to reach and benefit. 
The total value of such a book lies in its fitness to meet and satisfy 
popular wants. 

It were a poor consolation to us, if this volume were adapted only 
to the tastes of the recluse, rather than the Sabbath-school teacher 
and the common reader of the Bible. There are already by far too 
many dry and learned text-books even in this department of sacred 
literature. It is quite time the science of Biblical interpretation, 
instead of retreating into theological halls, should come forth into 
the world, and make itself intelligible to the masses. It is none 
of our business to petrify exegesis. We would rather breathe into 
it the breath of hfe, and make it a living reality — a famiUar and 
beloved science. Much rather would we write for all mankind than 
for any one class, however influential. What are the few to the 
many ? That our pages may enlighten and interest all classes has 
been our honest desire. 

We have written for all who read the Bible, and written that they 
may understand. For, " Understandest thou what thou readest?" is 
the main question with every man who handles the Word of God. 



PREFACE. Vll 

To read without understanding is surely labor without profit. But 
the necessity of right rules, and the relation they bear to a right 
comprehension of the Scriptures is not always realized nor admitted. 
Men read, and think they understand, when, in truth, they are but 
perverting the word of God. 

Indeed, there is no book in existence which receives at the hands 
of its readers such various usage. Every man treats it in accord- 
ance with his character. There are those who never allow them- 
selves to be anxious in respect to its meaning. Others view it 
simply as a text-book of their pecuhar ideas, or of all contradictory 
and conflicting opinions. Some have no just conceptions of its 
unity; to them, it is a revelation in chaos, "without form, and 
void." Others regard it as any other human composition, which 
might be very much improved by the correcting hand of modern 
philosophy. Not a few flee to some favorite commentary, there to 
sacrifice the right of private judgment for the poor privilege of 
accepting the opinions of others, without knowing the grounds on 
which they rest, ^any despair of any effective system of principles, 
under the behef that the Scriptures must needs be for ever involved 
in mystery, never to be explained. Others adopt an imperfect sys- 
tem, through the force of some fundamental error, or the influence 
of their rehgious leaders. And there are many who depend on the 
mere perusal of the Bible, saying, if its meaning cannot be ascer- 
tained in this natural and easy way, it cannot be ascertained at all. 

But there is an unreasonableness on the face of all this. The 
best, if not also, the only method of ascertaining the sense of the 
Bible, is to follow a wise, and well-considered system of rules, such as 
common sense, in its final and just decisions, will justify. Even 
profound theologians, with all respect we write it, might reap no 
small advantage from adopting such a system. Says a writer in the 
BibUotheca Sacra, for 1851, p. 218 : " We have only to look into the 
writings of Pres. Edwards to see how much his acute and profound 
intellect would have been aided by better principles of interpreta- 



nil PREFACE. 

tion." But if this is true of the greatest theologian, that this, or 
any other country has produced, since the days of Paul, how much 
more is it true of all his inferiors ? 

A book, from any source, that shaU prove a real and rehable aid 
to the true interpretation of the Bible, having the marks of a cool 
and impartial judgment, and breathing the air of a calm independ- 
ence, will be welcomed by all who interest themselves in the pro- 
gress of the Gospel, in the enhghtenment and salvation of the 
human race. In whatever measure we may have succeeded in the 
production of such a book, it may not be for us to say ; but our 
hopes respecting the science itself, are kindred with those of its first 
patron and father in this country, the excellent Stuart. He says : 
" The hope may be rationally indulged, that at some future day, 
hermeneutics will be a science as definite, and as well discriminated 
as most other sciences, which have been long taught as complete." 

Our grateful acknowledgments are due to the Kev. Edward 
Robinson, D.D., of Union Theological Seminary, New York, for his 
review of the general plan, and his cheerful approbation of the 
axioms, and general laws laid down in the work. To the Rev. H. D. 
Kitchel, of Detroit, our obligations are also many ; both for his 
reading the MSS. with a brother's and a critic's eye, and for the 
genial words whereby he inspired us with the necessary courage to 
give our labors to the press. 

Plattsburgh, May^ 1856. 



THE CONTENTS. 



■^•►■ 



PAG2 

Preface, .....••... 6 — 8 
I. On the Importance of a Right Interpretation, . . . . 18—19 

II. The Special Design of this Treatise, ..... 20—26 

III. On the History and Progress of Interpretation — Clemens — Tertullian 

— Origen — Augustine — The Chains — Nicholas de Lyra — ^ Luther — 
Calvin — Kant — Paulus — Semler — Westminster Assembly — Henry 
Doddridge — Brown — Moses Stuart — Robinson—Gibbs — Alexander 
—Barnes,. ........ 27—44 

IV. Argument for Inspiration stated, ...... 45—58 

V. Axioms preliminary to Interpretation, ..... 54 — 67 

VI. What is the Basis of all Right Rules in this Science? — Common Sense, 68 — 73 
Vn. G-eneral Rules, with illustrations, ..... 74—163 

I. The literal or obvious meaning is generally the true meaning. 
1. Except where it asserts a known impossibility. 2. Where it is 
eyidently contrary to reason. 3. Where it contradicts any pre- 
cept. 4. Where an express limitation is expressed, . . 75-^83 

II. Figurative language must be distinguished from its opposite, 

and interpreted according to its nature, .... 82—83 
in. No inferences to be drawn from any text, till its meaning has 

been ascertained, ....... 88 — 90 

IV. No interpretation correct if it be at variance with the analogy 

of the Faith, ........ 90—96 



X CONTENTS. 

PA6K 

V. No interpretation correct which is at variance with the known 
nature of things, ....... 96—100 

VI. If, in any passage, a doctrine elsewhere taught be omitted, the 
passage must be interpreted in harmony with the omission, . 100 — ^104 

VII. No passage is to be explained contrary to the context, nor 
apart from the context, . . . . . . 104 — 108 

VIII. Our interpretation is not sound if it be opposed to the gene- 
ral design of the writer, ...... 109 — 115 

IX. Of two possible meanings, that which best agrees with the 
design of the writer and the analogy of the Faith, is to be pre- 
ferred, 116—119 

X. No interpretation is correct which violates the grammar or 
idioms of the original languages of the Bible, . . . 119 — ^124 

XI. Comparisons not to be pressed beyond the nature of the 
subject, 124—128 

Rule of all words respecting human character, , . 128 — 134 

Rule of verbs asserting the influence of one moral agent on 
another, . . . ^ . . . 132—134 

The Parables, 134-137 

The Types, 13T— 139 

The Poetry of the Bible, 139—144 

XII. No interpretation correct which bases any doctrine on a 

mere phrase, ....... 144 — 150 

XIII. When any doctrine is stated, or event described in different 
passages, the briefer is always to be explained by the more 
extended statement, ...... 150 — ^153 

XIV. No interi)retation is sound which violates the express defini- 
tions given in Scripture, . . . . . . 153 — 164 

VIII. A Fundamental Principle enforced, ..... 165 — 170 
IX. On the authority of Lexicons and of Etymology in Interpretation, 171 — ^175 
X. On the Study of the Prophecies and their Interpretation, . . 176 

1. They can be understood, ....*. 180 — 184 

2. They have but one meaning to convey, .... 184 — 189 
8. Investigate the prophecies fulfilled, .... 189—193 

4. The Bible the right source of laws of prophetical interpretation, 193—196 

5. Read contemporaneous history, ..... 197 — 199 

6. Compare parallel prophecies, ..... 199—201 
On the calculations respecting the end of the world, , , 201—208 



CONTENTS. 



XI 



XI. On the alleged contradictions of the Bible, . • . .209 

1. Those in facts and doctrines, ..... 211 — 219 

2. Those between Prophecy and its fulfillment, . . . 219—222 
2. Those against Morality, ....... 222—229 

4. Those against Science — Astronomy and Geology, . . 229 — 246 

XII. On the origin of difficulties in Interpretation, . . . 249 — 259 

XIII. On the Moral Power of the Bible. 1. It sets forth the right law of 

conduct. 2. It presents the true view of man's present moral 
condition. 3. It gives just views of God's character. 4. It reveals 
the only remedy for sin. 5. It is the word of God, . . 260—278 

Appendix. I, On Maxims, . . . . . * . . 280—288 

II. What is it to prove a doctrine from the Scriptures? . 289 — 295 

III. Other systems noticed. 1. Dr. John Brown. 2. Samuel 

Davidson. 3. G. J. Planck. 4. B. B. Edwards. 5. Prof. 

A. Norton. 6. Professor McLelland, . . . 296—810 

IV. Thoughts on the present state of hermeneutical instruction, 311—322 



KEY TO THE BIBLE. 



-4^ 



CHAPTER I. 

ON THE IMPOBTANCE OF A EIGHT IKTEEPRETATIOISr OF 
THE SCErPTHRES. 

V 

Every age claims and exercises the privilege of 
writing its own books on all subjects, and especially 
its books on morals and religion. This privilege is 
essential to progress and to the full enjoyment of the 
truth in its best and most useful forms. When men 
cease to think for themselves, they soon sink into 
spiritual bondage, and descend from the position of 
honor and moral worth, to which the exercise of their 
just rights would naturally elevate them. 

The only sure method of preventing this evil 
result, is to think and believe for ourselves, responsi- 
ble to none, but God the Judge of all. The past has 



14 INTEEPRETATION'. 

no anthority to bind the present age to tlie reception 
of its opinions ; the present age best comports itself 
nnder its responsibilities, and renders truest rever- 
ence to the past, when it receives, its creed on the 
ground of sober investigation and satisfactory convic- 
tion alone. 

It is a vain expectation, therefore, which finds a 
place in some minds, that the books of the past, on 
religion and the Bible, should satisfy the people of 
this generation. To attain an enlightened satisfac- 
tion in our religious belief, we must investigate; 
and to investigate thoroughly and usefully, we must 
think for ourselves, in sincere and true independence. 
Every man is born to this responsibility ; and happy 
are we in the conviction, that true religion, and its 
only true source, the Bible, can receive no harm 
from the legitimate exercise of human reason in its 
proper sphere. The free and wise use of reason is, to 
men, the infallible condition of all saving faith, and 
of all right acquaintance with the will of God ; and 
to attain that acquaintance, is, in a high sense, the 
main business of every man in this life. We know 
of no business so noble in itself, or so worthy of the 
attention of all mankind. It is one of those duties 
which throw both a solemnity and a nobility around 
all the incidents and issues of man's life from first to 
last. To know the will of God, is next only in gran- 



ITS IMPORTANCE. 15 

deur of privilege, and in true fitness to the happi- 
ness of the soul, to the cheerful and hearty perform- 
ance of that will. 

But for man to know the will of God, in its 
broadest and grandest sense, it is necessary that he 
should search the Scriptures ; and every man to 
whom this matter is submitted, confesses to this 
necessity. The surest way to know the will of God 
is to make sure of the sense of the Bible. 

No man, therefore, need marvel that there has 
been so much written respecting the meaning of the 
Bible, and the principles by which it is to be ascer- 
tained. In the Bible are settled all the profoundest 
problems of the soul. Here are solved all the urgent 
inquiries of our finite and restless nature. Here is 
garnered up that wisdom which is from Heaven, 
which alone becomes the immortal mind, and 
imparts to it that sublime peace, so essential to its 
progress and to its comfort in prospect of eternity. 

To the Bible, above all other sources, must the 
friends of God and truth look for a final refutation 
of those errors, whereby Christianity, in every age, 
has been corrupted. In aU religious controversies, 
in the controversy between the Jew and the Chris- 
tian, between the Protestant and the Papist, between 
those who hold to regeneration in baptism, the sav- 
ing grace of sacraments, the supremacy of bishojjs. 



16 INTEEPRETATION. 

the simple humanity of Christ, the salvation of all 
men, the return of the Jews to Palestine, the per- 
sonal appearance and reign of our Lord for a thou- 
sand years at Jerusalem, and those who deny these 
doctrines, a sound and irrefragable interpretation of 
the Bible, conducted in the legitimate use of reason, 
is the last court of appeal. '' This is the Judge that 
ends the strife." This is the one mighty instrument 
by which error is to be overthrown ; and the victory 
cannot be doubtful, for God is on the side of his 
Word. 

Any one who will reflect upon the matter, cannot 
fail to perceive the importance of oui- subject. It is 
by a right interpretation of its contents that the 
Bible becomes to us, in effect, what it professes to 
be, the infallible Word of God. To ascertain the 
precise sense intended by the Spirit of God, neither 
adding thereto, nor subtracting therefrom, is the only 
sure way of possessing the Bible. Its claims, as 
inspired and supreme, the momentous topics on 
which it treats, our absolute need of it as a directory 
of life, indispensable in a very high degree to the 
salvation of the soul, are facts of themselves suffi- 
cient to show how important it is that we find and 
adopt its true sense only. 

The foundation of theological seminaries — ^the 
required qualifications of their professors — the im- 



ITS IMPORTANCE. 17 

mense snms laid out in their endowment — ^the 
princely libraries gathered for their nse, show clearly 
what the Christian world thinks of the importance 
of a Bible rightly interpreted. 

So indeed does the establishment of the Chiistian 
ministry, because mainly for this express purpose it 
is ordained and educated. The work of the ministry 
is first to ascertain, then to enforce the meianing of 
the Scriptures. It was during our own personal 
struggles after the sense of certain texts, that the 
importance of this whole subject, and the need of 
such a treatise as this, for the first time revealed 
itself. On more careful investigation, we found that 
the meaning of the text did not sustain the sermon, 
and therefore the sermon was i^ fact of no authority. 
To the minister of the Gospel, above all men, the 
right interpretation of the Bible is a matter of the 
greatest importance. It is only when his sermon is 
wedded to his text, by a clear and irresistible inter- 
pretation, that he speaks in the name of his Master; 
and when he thus speaks, he will be heard and 
reverenced as an ambassador of Christ, a veritable 
teacher of the Word of Cod. 

Besides, a misinterpreted Bible is the stronghold 
of all error — of Judaism as well as of Popery. The 
Talmud on which the Jews rely for their creed, is 
merely a collection of misinterpretations of Moses 



18 INTEEPRETATIOlSr. 

and* tlie propliets. Nor is there any general conver- 
sion of the Jews to be expected until they are per- 
suaded to abandon the Talmud and take the Bible of 
their fathers in its stead. The same thing is true of 
Popery in all its forms. A perverted Bible, in the 
hands of a selfish priesthood, is the right arm of the 
Greek and Eoman churches ; and if, as the friends 
of the Gospel, we would secure them to the true 
faith, we must ply them on every hand with the 
Word of God. But in this work it will not be suffi- 
cient to quote Scripture; we must interpret Scrip- 
ture ; and that, too, on principles, which their reason 
will compel them to accept ; then we may hope to 
enlighten and reclaim them, but not till then. 

It gives all the force of a divine affirmation to the 
importance which we attach to a right interpreta- 
tion of the Bible, when we refer to the example of 
our Lord Jesus Christ. He addressed himself 
throughout his whole eventful ministry to this very 
undertaking. The Scribes and Pharisees had made 
the Word of no effect through their traditions — that 
is, through their false interpretations. Hence our 
Lord attacked and subverted the entire system of 
Pharasaic exegesis. He exposed their errors and 
vindicated the true sense of the Scripture on every 
fitting occasion. The apostles imbibed the spirit of 
their divine Master, and carried it out in all theii 



ITS IMPORTANCE. 19 

labors and writings, until tlie yolume of Revelation 
was closed. 

Finally, history confirms all that we have said of 
the importance of a right interpretation. The Bible, 
read and understood in its own meaning, in all climes 
and ages, is the sure forerunner of undefiled religion, 
the fruitful germ of all greatness and growth, in indi- 
viduals and in nations. The Bible, the divine book, 
not on the shelf as an ornament, not in morocco and 
gold clasps merely, with a cross on the outside to be 
admired — ^but revealed and written on the hearts of 
men by the Holy Spirit, and received as an infallible 
standard of faith and morals — this, has always proved 
the true reformer. Under its influence, every faculty 
of man, and every virtue of the soil on which he 
treads, has ripened rapidly to maturity. A rightly 
interpreted Bible is the only pure fountain of saving 
knowledge and healthful civilization in this sinful 
and wretched world. 

A firm faith in these sentiments has inspired us 
throughout in the composition of this work, of the 
special design of which we now proceed more par- 
ticularly to speak. 



20 INTERPEETATIOISr. 



CHAPTER TI. 

THE SPECIAL DESIGN OF THIS TREATISE. 

To ascertain tlie true sense of tlie Bible lias always 
been a matter of tbe profoundest interest to all 
devout minds. Hence books on the subject, ex- 
pounding the principles of interpretation, and show- 
ing bow the difficult passages of Scripture are to be 
explained, have always been desired. The want of 
such books has been felt by the learned and the 
unlearned, by enemies as well as by friends of 
the Sacred Yolume; and the common method of 
meeting it has been by commentaries in full on the 
books of the Bible. 

But such commentaries, almost without exception, 
have been too elaborate, and too wearisome, to be 
thoroughly read ; and they very often fail to explain 
the difficulties which the reader wishes to have 
explained. It is no part of their design to state, with 
any clearness, the principles on which their exposi- 



DESIGN OF THIS TREATISE. 21 

tions proceed ; and yet there is not one in twenty of 
common readers but wishes to know those principles. 
Hence althougli commentaries are extensively pnr- 
cliasedj they do not prove wholly satisfactory in the 
interpretation of the Bible. 

The special design of this book is to place the 
principles of interpretation in the reader's own hands, 
that he may employ them in the formation of his 
views of what the Bible means ; if he acquires the 
principles, he can interpret, and form his own creed 
and commentary, in the free exercise of his own 
judgment. 

That there are principles by which all our inter- 
pretations should be governed, will not be denied ; 
although it is well understood there are objections 
urged in high places against all attempts at reducing 
them to a system. It is said, men interpret as they 
read, without waiting for any formal system of rules. 
But if this is even so, it is no proof that men inter- 
pret correctly. A correct system of logic is no hin- 
drance to correct thinking. Even so in the case 
before us. If there be . fundamental principles of 
interpretation, and no one denies it, and if they can be 
expressed and classified, the expression and classifi- 
cation of them must be a real assistance to every 
student of the Sacred Yolume. The want of such a 
system, and the inconsistent methods of interpreta- 



22 INTEEPRETATION. 

tion to wHch it leads, has wrought no good to 
religion. It has given birth to the proverb, as mis- 
chievous as it is untrue : 

" In the Bible every man his opinion seeks ; 
In the Bible every man his opinion finds." 

This is a libel on the Bible. Let sound and true 
principles be adopted, and this proverb will perish. 
The Bible can be interpreted consistently with itself, 
and in such a manner as to commend itself to the 
good sense and enlightened faith of all men. It is 
not the text-book of every error with which this 
world is infested. It can be correctly interpreted, 
so as to give unity and perspicuity to its doctrines, 
just as truly as the ocean can be traversed by 
the help of the compass, through all its gulfs, bays, 
and straits. 

It is absurd to oppose the reduction of interpreta- 
tion to a science with its fixed rules. In the very 
nature of a revelation, and indeed of every commu- 
nication from one intelligent being to another, there 
must be things requiring explanation ; but he to 
whom the communication is made must have the 
key to its meaning, or else it is given to him in vain. 
His knowledge of language, of the subject, of the 
author, of himself, and of things without him, will 
come to his aid. He will avail himself of the laws 



DESIGN OF THIS TREATISE. 23 

of correct thinking ; and these are precisely the laws 
which, when classified, will serve all the purposes of 
a rational and right system of Biblical interpretation. 
Our design is to collect these laws, and illustrate 
their application in the actual work of finding the 
true sense of the Scriptures. 

But we do not think it necessary to follow the 
method of some who have treated this subject in all 
its details. They have laid down rules for all the 
separate departments of Scriptures ; for the parables, 
the promises, and the types, &c., until we have felt 
oppressed with the idea that the whole subject is 
entangled in an endless mass of particulars, never to 
be mastered. Even for professed students we would 
not adopt this method. It throws an air of difficulty 
over a subject, which in truth is of more easy com- 
prehension than many of the sciences, the approach 
to which has never been hedged up with any such 
obstructions. 

We have not attempted, therefore, any exhausting 
system of particulars ; our aim has been to deal with 
the subject in a clear yet comprehensive manner, 
laying down only those general principles which 
solve rationally and satisfactorily the main difficul- 
ties in the way of the inquirer. The wonderful 
unanimity of the great mass of common readers of 
the Bible, in respect to its meaning, shows that by 



24 INTERPRETATION". 

far the greater part of the Bible admits of no mis- 
•anderstanding, and calls for no laborious apparatus 
of interpretation. We do not say the Bible contains 
no difficulties, nor that its interpretation is a work 
requiring no profound attention. What we object 
to is the air of repulsiveness and immensity so unne- 
cessarily cast upon the subject. Let the student 
have the ordinary encouragement held out to those 
who attempt the acquisition of other sciences. Let 
him not be plunged into a wilderness of particulars. 
If he must have helps to interpretation, let them be 
such as he needs, such as he can readily use. A 
traveller asking the way to a certain place, does not 
require a minute description of every object on the 
line of his journey. It is enough that you call his 
attention to the most obvious objects : thus directed, 
he will find his way without further trouble. 

Most frankly, therefore, is the confession here 
made, that this is no exhausting system of herme- 
neutics. Those who have a taste for such works will 
find it gratified in Ernesti, Home, and Davidson; 
invaluable books if you wish to pursue the subject 
into all its details. We must walk in another path, 
less scholastic, leading through an opener country ; 
content, if we may conduct the humblest inquirers 
to an understanding of the Bible, by such means 
only as shall neither weary their minds with parti cu- 



DESIGN OF THIS TREATISE. 25 

lars, nor divert them from the work of an indepen- 
dent interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. 

A correct and comprehensive system of principles 
must be a very welcome assistance to all readers and 
students of the Sacred V^olume ; and such a system it 
has been our aim to construct. If the principles 
here recorded are in themselves correct, their appli- 
cation, such as we have made it, we hope is also cor- 
rect. On this point there may be a difference of 
opinion. Some may adopt the principles, and object 
to the use we have made of them. But we are not 
greatly moved at the thought. Our eye is single. 
Truth is our aim ; and if the principles we have laid 
down in this volume be founded in sound common 
sense, the illustrations will answer for themselves. 
Let the truth be spoken at all hazards. All sects 
and parties are probably somewhat in the wrong, as 
respects the meaning of the Bible ; but the principles 
of interpretation, like the principles of mathematics, 
are independent of all schools and parties ; and by 
their impartial, legitimate application, must all par- 
ties be reproved if they have adopted errors worthy 
of reproof. We subject ourselves to the same laws, 
and await the issue without fear. 

To every honest inquirer, then, is this treatise 
commended. If it serve the purpose designed by' 
the author, it will be a key to the Bible, and an easy 

2 



2 6 INTERPRETATION. 

and conyenient help in the solution of many of the 
perplexities which, as trials of our faith and pa- 
tience, God has suffered to gather around His 
"Word. May the blessing of Him in whose fear it 
has been written, go with the book in all its fortunes, 
and it shall not be sent forth in yain. 



ITS HISTORY. 27 



CHAPTER III. 

ON THE HISTORY AND PROGRESS OF INTERPRETATION. 

The interpretation of the Bible has had a history 
and a progress very similar to that of every other 
science. The time has been when its laws were bnt 
very imperfectly understood; and when principles 
were advanced and followed, which in onr day 
wonld be regarded as unsonnd in the highest degree. 
Evidence of this meets ns at the very threshold of 
this history. Among many of the discoveries that 
give you pain in regard to the early condition of 
Christianity, there is none more painful than this, 
that almost contemporaneously with the apostles 
themselves, there appears a disposition to pervert 
the plainest portions of the Bible. Instead of taking 
the obvious sense, the leading early writers, whose 
works have come down to us, seem to labor with all 
their ingenuity to invent a meaning as far as possible 
from it. 



28 INTERPRETATION. 

To go no fartlier back than A. D. 200, Clemens 
Alexandrinns gives the following rules for the inter- 
pretation of the Bible: 1. All Scripture has an 
allegorical sense. 2. The laws of Moses have a 
fourfold meaning. 3. Every law of Moses foretells 
something future. 4. The Scriptures conceal their 
meaning, that we may the more diligently study 
them ; and that men may be convinced that they did 
not foreknow the coming of the Messiah. 5. The 
literal sense of Scripture produces only elementary 
faith, while the allegorical leads to the most sublime 
wisdom. 6. Tradition is an indispensable light in 
interpretation. 

Such were the laws of exegesis adopted and 
applied by this eminent Christian teacher ; and yet* 
not one of them deserves to be styled a law of inter- 
pretation. In his Stromata, or Miscellanies, may be 
found abundant illustrations of the errors to which 
they led. Clemens was an ardent disciple of Plato, 
and the philosophy of that mystical but eloquent 
Greek controlled all his views of the Word of God. 

After Clemens came Irseneus and TertuUian, who 
are properly ranked together, because they adopted 
the same principles, and labored to refute the same 
great errors of the Gnostics. The Gnostics were the 
Rationalists of those early centuries. They opposed 
their reason to the explicit dicta of the Scriptures, 



ITS HISTORY. 29 

and carried the allegorizing method of Clemens to 
such a length, that in the opinion of Irseneus, Tertiil- 
lian, and others, the whole fabric of Christianity was 
in danger of being subverted. To counteract the 
mischief, these fathers insisted chiefly on one princi- 
ple, which seemed indeed their only principle for all 
the purposes of interpretation. This they styled 
"regula fidei," the rule of faith, the creed of the 
Church, Tertullian gave all his vigor to the estab- 
lishment of this vicious dogma. He was by far the 
most eloquent of all the Latin fathers, and his writ- 
ings, on fire now with true fervor, can be read to 
this day profitably, for their literary merits alone. 
Though he adheres to the literal sense as supreme, 
he is willing to renounce reason altogether, and 
believe all the more firmly whatever it declared in- 
credible. From him we have this pithy sentence : 
" A fault in interpretation is not of less magnitude 
than a fault in the life." But his influence, on the 
whole, was very decidedly opposed to the simplicity 
and purity of the Gospel. A corrupt traditionary 
faith was put in the place of the inspired Word 
of God. 

In the third century, Origen, laborious, acute, and 

a great admirer of Plato, was the centre of Biblical 

learning. He adopted Plato's idea, that man consists 

of three elements, body, soul, and spirit ; and on this 



30 INTERPEETATION. 

theorj lie maintained that Scripture must have a 
three-fold sense. Consequently, the grand feature 
of his system, was the setting aside of the obvious 
meaning as nearly always worthless. And hence 
the absurdities of this learned father are all but 
incredible. Notwithstanding his system held a long 
and mighty sway ; and while tracing its history, we 
have ao^ain and ao^ain reached the conviction, that it 
became one of those wide-spread and potent causes, 
which, working in harmony with the depraved pas- 
sions of men, finally produced the great apostasy of 
Rome. The entire Bible was perverted. In the hands 
of Origen and his disciples, it became an overflowing 
fountain of foolish conceits, having no power over 
the hearts of men. The uncircumcised philosophy 
of Plato and Aristotle, was preferred to the teachings 
of Paul and John. The light of God's Word was 
quenched in a heathen effort to make it consistent 
with heathen reasoning. The Bible was no longer in 
its own sovereignty, the all-sufficient standard of 
faith and practice. There was authority only in the 
teachings of those who controlled the Church. Tra- 
dition — and such tradition, as forced a three-fold 
sense on the Bible — was the rule of interpretation, 
and the law of all doctrine. See Mosheim's Com. vol. 
II. p. 1T2-189. Origen did indeed sometimes con- 
travene his own false principles ; but his errors pre- 



ITS HISTORY. 31 

vailed, and their reign was a reign of death to the 
simplicity, and power of the sacred Scriptures. 

Next after Origen, Angnstine is the first great 
name that offers itself to our attention. He was the 
great man of his age, and in exegesis, the greatest 
that had yet appeared in the Christian Chnrch. In 
his work on Christian doctrine, he has laid down 
better rules than any preceding writer, though they 
are exceedingly defective, and in his actual interpre- 
tations, egregiously violated. The common method of 
turning every passage into allegory, held dominion 
over his otherwise noble and independent mind. "Wit- 
ness his interpretation (Evan, qusest. lib. 2, qusest 19), 
of Luke X. 30, the parable of the good Samaritan. lie 
says the man is Adam, in the human race ; Jericho 
is the moon ; the robbers are Satan and his angels ; 
the inn is the Church, &c. Many other examples 
could be given, but let this suflB.ce. 

In his treatise on Christian doctrine, above men- 
tioned, he specifies the following as rules of interpre- 
tation. 1. The nature of the passage is carefully to 
be ascertained, whether it is literal, or figurative. 
2. Obscure places are to be interpreted by the more 
intelligible. 3. Nothing hinders the same passage 
to be understood in more senses than one. 4. A 
knowledge of tropes is necessary. 5. Human reason 
is not to be trusted. 



32 IKTERPEETATION. 

This series of maxims, for they have not the form 
of laws of exegesis, shows that science had occupied 
the thoughts of this prince among theologians. But 
on referring to his actual interpretations, we do not 
find him obeying his own principles ; and the convic- 
tion is ever growing upon us, that had he elaborated 
a more rational system of principles, he would have 
been a more consistent expounder of the Bible, and 
a more judicious teacher of its doctrines. A man 
of limited education, of high natural endowments, 
and unquenchable enthusiasm, he was often more 
ready to make the Scriptures bend to his philosophy, 
or to the creed of the Church, than meekly to inquire 
on sound principles for the meaning of the Scriptures. 
But in this respect he was like all the Fathers. They 
all stumbled at one stumbling stone, the neglect of 
the plain and obvious sense of the Bible, and the 
abuse of the reason with which God had endowed 
them. 

We cannot mention all the names of those, who, 
in those early centuries, after Augustine, appeared 
as interpreters of the Scriptures; neither is it neces- 
sary; for they walk in one well-beaten path. With 
unvarying uniformity, they laid great stress on tra- 
dition as essential to the right understanding of the 
Bible. But in the course of time, very naturally, it 
came to pass, that men began to be desirous of know- 



ITS HISTORY. 33 

ing witli greater precision tlie limits of this tradition, 
and the exact amount of its teachings. Accordingly, 
a record of its teachings was made and published ; 
and by a singular felicity, this collection of opinions 
was styled Catenae, the chains ^ because, as it was 
alleged, it contained a continuous chain of doctrine 
and belief, from the apostles downward. 

But now, that tradition was written, it was main- 
tained that "the chains," were preferable to the 
Scriptures, because while the Scriptures were diffi- 
cult to be understood, " the chains " were easy. To 
this sentiment, the position was also added, that the 
Scriptures could be understood only by the priests ; 
and for reasons not difficult for us to understand, even 
at this distance of time, the priests piously recom- 
mended " the chains " in place of the Bible. The 
consequences could not be doubtful. The Bible 
was totally shorn of its power, and robbed of all the 
honor that belonged to it. It was all but quenched 
out. 

From all the investigations we have been able to 
make of the writings and influence of the Fathers, 
as they have been called, we have no hesitation in 
saying, that the principles they adopted in the expo- 
sition of the Bible, were such as common sense cannot 
justify, and such therefore as led them headlong into 
the grossest errors. They possessed, but they, at the 

2* 



34 INTERPHETATIOI^. 

same time grievously perverted, the Holy Oracles ; 
and this fact, melancholy, as it is undisputed, only 
shows with what vigilance we should watch over our 
principles of Biblical interpretation. Had the early 
Fathers proved faithful to their trust, and adhered 
honestly to the dictates of common sense, in the 
great work of explaining and defending the Word of 
God, how different had been the history of the 
Church, and the world ! ' A departure once made 
from the simplicity oT the Bible, in the direction of 
priestly power and mysticism, how sudden and dread- 
ful were the aberrations from the safe paths of pure 
and undefiled religion ! What horrible ages of dark- 
ness were entailed upon the Church, and upon man- 
kind, by the agency of the leading teachers of religion ! 
ages whose darkness and miseries have not passed 
away to this day. 

From Augustine to the fourteenth century there 
is a wide and dreary waste in Biblical learning. 
Not a treatise of any real value, through all that 
long period of a thousand years, offers itself to our 
attention. The human mind was bound fast in " the 
chains " of tradition. The Fathers were supposed to 
have exhausted all Biblical knowledge, and woe to 
the man who dared to say they had not. The Bible 
was an unknown book ; its study was wholly neg- 
lected. The highest intellectual effort of Biblical 



ITS HISTORY. 35 



Students was making " chains " ont of '' chains," 
traditions out of traditions. It was the hour of dark- 
ness. Satan held a jubilee. 

The first name that gives promise of a better day, 
is that of Nicholas de Lyra, 1340 ; of whom Luther 
said : 

"If Ljra had not harped, 
Luther had not danced." 

Lyra was a good Hebrew scholar — a rare attain- 
ment in those days ; and gave all his vigor to the study 
and illustration of the Bible. His greatest work was 
a commentary on the whole Scriptures, and in the 
prologues prefixed, we meet with some of the 
soundest views ever advanced in respect to the 
science of interpretation. But "the chains" had 
even fallen upon him. " I protest," he said, " that I 
intend nothing, either in the way of assertion or 
determination, except in reference to points clearly 
settled by Scripture, or the authority of the Church. 
All beside must be taken as written scholastically 
and by the way of exercise ; for I submit all I have 
said, and am to say, to the correction of our holy 
mother the Church." 

These were the last dying notes of the old hymn 
of spiritual servility. Luther arose and struck the 
first effectual blow for liberty. He gave the Bible 
to his country in their mother tongue, and the science 



36 INTEEPEETATION. 

of interpretation began. As we have just said, De 
Lyra pointed to the sound and reliable principles of 
tbe science, and Lutber's admiration of tbem gave 
promise of the correctness of bis own. On Gen. i. 
9, be says of Lyra: "Ego Lyranum ideo amo, et 
inter optimos pono, quod ubique diligenter detinet 
et persequitur bistoriam, quanquam patrum se vinci 
patitur." " I love Lyra, and place bim among tbe 
very best interpreters ; because, tbougb be permits 
himself to be led away by the Fathers, he always 
diligently retains and follows the historical sense." 

Luther, for the first time, introduced the idea of a 
direct appeal to the Bible, rightly interpreted, as the 
standard of sound doctrine. The Fathers . and the 
chains were both disowned ; to the law and the testi- 
mony, if they spake not according to these, it was 
because there was no truth in them. It was full 
time that the Bible should be heard on its own 
behalf. The appeal, therefore, was to the Word of 
God impartially explained. In this lay the germ of 
that mighty revolution, which, having its origin in 
the depths of Germany, and its life in the Scrip- 
tures, is destined to enlighten the whole world, and 
enthrone the Bible in the hearts of all nations. The 
reformers had the advantage of their opponents, in 
the mere quoting of the Scriptures. The advocates 
of the Church could not stand before them. With 



ITS HISTORY. 37 

hearts renewed by the Holy Spirit, the coimnon 
people understood the Word of God, and verified the 
saying of the Great Teacher: "If thine eye be 
single, thy whole body shall be full of light." 

But the book, which deserves the first place among 
those of this famous period, in which the science of 
exegesis was well set forth, though not strictly a trea- 
tise on interpretation, was the justly-celebrated 
" Institutes " of John Calvin. This great work made 
its mark upon the literature of the age and of the 
world ; because it was a well-reasoned statement of 
Christian doctrine, drawn by correct logic from the 
Bible. It laid the immovable platform of Protes- 
tantism on the firm basis of the Bible, where it wiU 
ever remain. On the whole, Calvin was one of the 
wisest interpreters of the Scriptures that had as yet 
appeared, from the days of the apostles. 

The science, however, was not yet perfected. In 
the seventeenth century the idea was still predomi- 
nant that the Bible was replete with allegory. 
^ Every passage of Scripture looks every way, and 
all the meaning that can be found in it, is in it to be 
regarded as the mind of God." This theory greatly 
prevailed in England, and over all the continent of 
Europe. Among other evidences, witness John 
Bunyan's " Solomon's Temple Spiritualized." 

In Germany, the birth-place of the Eeformation, 



3 8 INTERPKETATION. 

tliere now arose a succession of writers on Biblical 
science, in learning, indnstiy, and boldness, far sur- 
passing their predecessors. Some were friends, some 
enemies of the Bible; but never before was the 
critical and exegetical study of the Scriptures so 
ardently pursued ; with what results is yet to be seen. 
The leaders, and the prominent points of their sys- 
tems, we here briefly mention. 

First is Emmanuel Kant, a professor of meta- 
physics. His grand principle was to educe from the 
Bible only such sentiments as are conformable to 
pure morality. "Pure reason" was the test of 
Scripture. Whatever did not agree with that test 
was rejected, and consequently the fact of inspiration 
was speedily ignored. The Bible came to have no 
more authority than any other human composition. 
It is due to Kant, nevertheless, to say that he did not 
avow these as the legitimate consequences of his 
theory. 

After him came Eichhorn and Paulus, holding 
only another phase of his mischievous dogma. They 
taught that the miracles of Scripture w^ere to be 
received only when they could not be referred to 
probable causes. But probable causes were always 
plenty, and consequently not a miracle was left ere 
long to bear witness for the truth. For a time this 
was quite a popular theory. 



ITS HISTORY. 39 

Semler next propounded his method. He started 
with the proposition that Christ and his disciples 
were truly benevolent persons ; but in view of the 
superstitions of the age, they accommodated their 
teachings to the ignorance around them. They 
knew the truth, but did not reveal it, for fear of 
offending men, and driving them from instruction 
altogether. The Bible, therefore, was only a pious 
imposition on the credulity of the world. What a 
view to take of the Word of God ! 

Thus there arose in the heart of Christendom what 
has been falsely called Rationalism, a system in 
which the Bible was treated with all manner of 
abuse and insult, under the name of reason and 
learning. In opposition to this Rationalism, another 
class of mistaken interpreters stood forth — the Pie- 
tists. They occupied the other extreme, decrying 
reason wholly, and depending on the special impulses 
of the Spirit for the discovery of the true meaning of 
Scripture. Learning and reason were not helps in 
their view, but hindrances. It was to be expected 
* that this party should soon run into the wildest 
enthusiasm : the Bible was neglected by them, quite 
as much as it was perverted by their opponents. 

In 1643, the Westminster Assembly in England 
did good service to the cause of sound interpretation, 
by their Confession of Faith, which, with some few 



40 INTERPEETATION. 

exceptions, is perhaps the most correct and consis- 
tent system of evangelical doctrine in the world. It 
proceeds throughout on the ground that the Bible 
is supreme in authority, and its contents to be inter- 
preted in dependence on the Spirit of God, on princi- 
ples of sound common sense. The process by which 
their celebrated confession was made, was a process 
purely of interpretation, because at every step the 
question with that learned assembly was. What saith 
the Scripture ? 

The next great step in the history of our science 
was the Commentary of Matthew Henry, who 
brought a sanctified and childlike mind to his work. 
Then came Philip Doddridge, the Melanchthon of 
England, with polished pen, unfolding the meaning 
of the Holy Scriptures. In Scotland, a few years 
later, John Brown sent forth the seh"-interpreting 
Bible, which holds its place among books to this 
day. He was a self-taught and sagacious expounder 
of the Bible, and did much to revive a true and 
independent exposition of the Scriptures. He pub- 
lished a series of rules, which will be found in the 
appendix to this treatise ; they convey some idea of 
the condition of this science in his day. 

Many names now crowd upon us, but we forbear. 
The rebellion against the Fathers was bearing fruit. 
The Bible was fast regaining its supremacy, despite 



ITS HISTORY. 41 

the efforts of Rome ; and the pride of that hierarchy 
was rebuked, for the common people not only read, 
but understood the Sacred Oracles without the aid of 
"the chains." Not that past systems had yet wholly 
lost their power. Plato, Augustine, Calvin, the 
mighty minds of former ages, were not so easily van- 
quished. The Fathers had yet a wide dominion. 
Systems of erroneous philosophy, by nature, subtle as 
the air we breathe, are all but immortal; perhaps 
they never altogether die. As we approach, how- 
ever, our own times, there is more liberty, more sim- 
plicity, more progress in the direction of a sound 
interpretation. 

In this country, powerful revivals of religion, long 
and keen controversies, S.abbath-school instruction, 
and the spirit of missions, have had a wonderful 
effect. Improvements in natural science also, the 
defeat of infidelity in Europe, and the successful 
refutation of its objections against the Scriptures, 
have all served to throw new light on our science. 
The names of those who have labored directly for its 
advancement here, are few in number, but of proved 
energy and worth. First, stands that of Moses Stu- 
art ; a man of sincere heart, great enthusiasm, and 
indomitable perseverance. He was the father of the 
science in this country, and led the way in its study, 
tvith such zeal, that even Germany confessed itself 



42 INTERPRETATION. 

interested. The cautious mind of ISTew England was 
alarmed, and Old England, even when it could not 
agree, was willing to applaud. His conclusions are 
not always so confidently to be relied on as 
those of others, who have come after him ; but as a 
student of the original languages, and an indepen- 
dent expounder of the Sacred Oracles, he has had, as 
yet, few superiors. Safer guides to the arcana of 
the Scriptures have arisen ; but none so ardent, or 
so chivalrous, as he. The greater part of the helps 
to Biblical study, in this country, are the creation of 
his hand. To him^ therefore, belongs the double 
honor of advancing this sacred science, beyond all 
former precedent, on this continent, and of producing 
in great measure, the very facilities by which it has 
been so successfully prosecuted. 

Next in time and honor stands Edward Robinson ; 
a riper scholar, gifted with more sagacity, and more 
of that comprehensive erudition, so essential to the 
Biblical interpreter. His labors have been chiefly 
in the department of sacred geography and lexico- 
graphy, and to every student of the Sacred Scriptures, 
they are beyond all price. The principles on which 
he has compiled his " Lexicon of the New Testament," 
and by which he was governed also, in his edition of 
" Gesenius' Hebrew Lexicon," are in themselves good 
evidence of the great progress made in the science 



ITS HISTORY. . 43 

of Scriptural exegesis. They embrace the entire 
subject of exposition and bea/tbe impress of sound, 
enlightened reason, against which there is no suc- 
cessful opposition. 

Our limits do not permit us to speak of the labors 
of Gibbs, Alexander, Hodge, Sears, Conant, and 
others, who have contributed nobly to the advance- 
ment of this science. It is a field that admits of 
many laborers ; and all these as critics and scholars, 
have deserved well of the friends of the Bible. 

Finally, as worthy of being numbered with the ^ 
first three, we now record the name of a Presby- 
terian pastor, who, amid the labors of a city ministry, 
has earned for his country the proud distinction of 
having given to the world, the most clear, satisfac- 
tory, and practical expositions of many of the sacred 
books that have ever been written. Simplicity and 
directness are his characteristics. He is the fairest, 
the most impartial, and the most instructive of all 
commentators. Pledged to no master, a slave to no 
school, but using a cool and sound judgment, he has 
developed the meaning of the inspired writers, in a 
popular manner, with more success than any other 
writer of his day. The Notes of Albert Barnes, 
though not written for scholars, have done noble 
service in the department of Biblical interpretation. 
Never again will " the chains " fetter the free expo- 



4:4= nSTTERPEETATION. 

sition of the Word of God. They are broken asun- 
der for ever. Henceforth the Bible must be 
interpreted on sound and self-evident principles, 
such as are consistent with immutable truth. The' 
true point of approach to the sense of Scripture 
is not through the question, " What saith the Church, 
or the creed?" but through the question, ^'What 
saith, and what meaneth the Word of God ?" The 
grand characteristic of Barnes, which in due time 
will become the characteristic of the age, con- 
sists in seizing the object of the inspired penmen, 
and in giving a calm, rational, and self-consistent 
explication of their doctrines, on principles which 
commend themselves to the common sense of men. 
It is on this ground that the Bible will survive and 
retain its hold on the human mind, and fill the earth 
with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters fill 
the sea. 



THE BIBLE INSPIKED. 45 



CHAPTEE TV. 

ARGUMENT FOK THE mSPIEATION OF THE BIBLE STATED. 

It is not absolutely essential in a treatise on the prin- 
ciples of interpretation, that we should enter elabo- 
rately into the proof of the fact that the Scriptures 
are inspired. In such a treatise, that fact may pro- 
perly be taken for granted. Yet it may serve a very 
important purpose, at least, to state the argument for 
inspiration, by way of laying the foundation of some 
of those maxims, on which the whole process of inter- 
pretation is based. K it be a fact, that the Bible 
is inspired of God, it certainly must behoove us to 
keep the fact constantly in view, as affecting our 
decisions at every step. To lose sight of it or to deny 
it, must compel us to err fundamentally. 

Here let us first define what is meant by the inspi- 
ration of the Bible. In asserting that the Bible is 
inspired, we mean to assert the presence and watch- 
ful superintendence of the Divine Spirit, in the 



4 6 INTER PRETATION . 

minds of the writers, to such a degree as best to 
secure the statement of truth, of truth in many 
instances, which lay beyond the discovery of the 
human mind. The writers of the Scriptures wrote 
as they were moved by the Spirit of God. 

That such inspiration was possible no man can 
reasonably deny. JSTo higher power is required in 
the case, than in the creation and support of the 
human mind in the free exercise of its powers. 

That such inspiration was necessary to the existence 
and authority of such a book as the Bible, is evident 
from the nature of the doctrines it contains ; the com- 
parative ignorance of the writers in respect to natural 
science ; and the importance of its standing forth in 
all generations, not as the production of men, but as 
the authoritative "Word of God. "Without such inspi- 
ration it had laclied certainty, dignity, and power. 
It would have occupied no higher place than the 
Koran, and possessed no higher adaptation to the 
wants of the universal human mind. It would not 
have been the word of God. But as it is, whether we 
read its histories, or its descriptions of God, of nature, 
and of man ; or its laws of morals, its plan of salva- 
tion, and its means of renewing the soul in the pure 
image of God ; or its deep mysteries of blessedness 
yet to be developed in the coming cycles of eternity, 
we can neither deny, nor cease to feel its heavenly 



THE BIBLE Ds^SPmED. 47 

origin. The inspiration and presence of the Al- 
mighty goes with it ; and such was His sovereign, 
all-wise decree. Hence neither the comparative 
ignorance of the writers, nor the treacherousness of 
memory, nor imperfections of the understanding, 
availed to defeat the divine purpose^ The inspira- 
tion of the Spirit is the strength of the Bible. But 
for this, it never could have survived, as it has done, 
on the rough seas of time ; long ere this it had been 
destroyed in the desperate madness of men. God is 
in the Bible, and therefore its noblest triumphs are 
yet to come, in the histories of that millenium, so 
near at hand. 

The argument, by which the fact of inspiration is 
conclusively established, is brief. 

First is the consideration, that known things are 
everywhere spoken of in the Scriptures, just as we 
know them. The visible kingdom of nature is there 
reflected as in a mirror. The evidence for the attri- 
butes and character of God is there as correctly 
detailed, as in the material world. The word and the 
works are in most singular harmony. So also in 
respect to the character of man. Everything is set 
forth concerning the human heart, just as it works 
itself out in the every-daj^ experience and business 
of life. There is no denying the correctness of the 
record, without at the same time denying the every- 
day history of the world. 



48 INTERPEETATION. 

ISText is the fact, that the moral code of the Bible 
is such as proves it divine ; it is so perfect, so admira- 
ble in its effects on the soul, so completely beyond 
the inventive powers of fnere men, that it were a 
miracle more difficult to be accounted for than 
inspiration itself, were such a code found in a book 
of mere human origin. By whom, if not by the 
Spirit of God, could such an instrument as the moral 
law have been produced? In that golden law, so 
peculiarly the Bible's own, and so charmingly inter- 
woven into the texture of its every page, in that law 
so august, so level to man's capacities, so worthy of 
Heaven, we cannot but behold the sure symbol of 
divinity. 

ISTot to be omitted, is the wonderful harmony 
throughout the Book in respect to scientific truth. 
The writers, though profoundly ignorant, in a major- 
ity of instances, of all the natural sciences, have 
never in any case contradicted them. Here is cer- 
tainly the finger of God. Has not every other book 
pretending to be a revelation, disproved its own pre- 
tences, in this very particular ? 

Then further, the writers living thousands of years 
apart, under very different degrees of light, with very 
diverse endowments as men, have not in any instance 
set themselves in opposition to each other. Is this 
true of any other class of religious writers ? Is it 
true of the poets, the philosophers, historians, or of 



THE BIBLE INSPIRED. 49 

any of the admirers of the exact sciences, who say, 
" figures cannot lie "? But it is true of the writers 
of the Bible, and they wrote history, and poetry, and 
philosophy, and natural theology, and theories of civil 
and moral government, like other men; with this 
difference, that while other men never have agreed, 
the writers of the Bible have never failed to agree. 
The reason of this fact, is the inspiration of the Holy 
Spirit. 

- It is evidence to the same point, that not one of the 
writers of the Bible allows himself to be carried 
away with the belief of the common superstitions of 
the world. Superstition is the opposite of religion ; 
hence, from first to last, the penmen of the Bible, 
being friends of religion, and under the superinten- 
dence of God, have not shown a trace of faith in any 
of the prevalent fooleries of witchcraft, and consul- 
tation of spirits. How did this come to pass, but 
from the fact that God was with them of a truth ? 

Once more. The writers of the Bible have agreed 
in publishing, with perfect harmony, many doctrines 
in their very nature, beyond the capacity of the 
unassisted human mind to have originated ; such as 
the creation of the world, the immortality of the 
soul, the resurrection of the body, the atonement of 
Christ, the regeneration of the heart by the Spirit, 
the penalty of the moral law, and the three-fold dis- 

3 



50 mTERPKETATION. 

tinctions in the Godhead. It was not in the power 
of the human mind to have thought out these doc- 
trines 5 nor was it possible, without the intervention 
of the Spirit, that so many writers should have 
spoken so uniformly in harmony respecting these 
doctrines, especially when speaking at such distances 
of time, and under such very diverse conditions of 

lif§. 

Then farther, it is to be noted, that in confirmation 
of these truths, signs, and wonders, and miracles 
were performed, such as God only can perform, and 
such as were never performed but in support of these 
same truths. Of these miracles, there can be no 
doubt, for they changed the history of the world, 
having been wrought in presence of thousands, with 
that express object in view. Among these miracles, 
we include prophecy, and confidently make our 
appeal to it, as to an irresistible demonstration of the 
presence of God with the writers of the Bible. Des- 
perate, and frequent were the efibrts of men to over- 
throw both the prophet and his vision ; but sent of 
God, and speaking as he was moved by the Holy 
Spirit, he stood calmly at his post, until the time of 
the fulfillment came; then men saw and believed 
that God was with him. 

Another proof of inspiration, is the peculiar and 
admirable effect of the Bible, on the mental, moral 



THE BIBLE INSPIEED. 51 

and social, as well as intellectual condition of men. 
In this dark, sinful, and miserable world, it is at all 
times, and in every place, as an angel of God. The 
Bible is man's best friend — his best guide through 
life, his faithful attendant and comforter at the solemn 
hour of death. It is the enlightener of nations ; the 
source of all human progress ; the fountain of light, 
and joy, and hope to the world. There is no clearer 
evidence than this, that it ' is from God. It is the 
only true and great Eeformer of the hearts and lives 
of men. 

Finally, let us hear the testimony of the wiiters 
themselves. They are competent to testify on this 
point until their veracity is impeached. In 2 Pet. 
i. 28, one thus bears witness : " The Prophecy came 
not in old time by the will of man ; but holy men 
spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." In 
Luke i. 70, another testifies : " As he spake by the 
mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since 
the world began." In Heb. i. 1, a third declares the 
inspiration both of the Old Testament, and the New, 
as follows : " God, who at sundry times, and in divers 
manners, spake in time past unto the Fathers by the 
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by 
his Son." And in 2 Tim. iii. 16, the same writer, 
with more explicitness still, has said : " All Scripture 
is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for 



62 INTEEPEETATIOIT. 

doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in 
righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, 
thoroughly fm*nished unto all good works ;" words 
these, worthy of being written in gold, and placed 
as a frontispiece to every copy of the Bible sent forth 
into the world. 

By this testimony of the writers, we are conducted 
to the same conclusion, in which we felt constrained 
to rest after a survey of the truth, purity, peculiarity, 
sublimity, and harmony of the Scriptures. Thus by 
their own merits, and by miracles, and by the explicit 
testimony of the writers, the Scriptures are proved, not 
the work of mere men but of the Holy spirit of God. 

"We have often felt that this whole question of 
inspiration might be settled by an appeal to a single 
book, the Eevelation of John. It was composed in 
all probability, in his ninety-sixth, or ninety-seventh 
year. He made no pretensions to learning ; his life 
was spent in the most humble circumstances, far 
from the walks of learning. Was it possible for such 
an aged man, in such a situation, to have written 
such a book by the energy of his own mind? 
Examine its contents ; its plan, its awful sublimity 
of diction, its consistency, amid such intricacy, its 
grandeur of conception, its predictions stretching 
down through all time, fulfilling and being fulfilled 
with such wonderful accuracy — do this, with your eye 



THE BIBLE INSPIRED. 53 

on the history of the Church and of the world since 
the day the book was written, and on the character 
of the man, standing as he did on the verge of his 
hundredth year — and say, did not John write as he 
was moved by the Spirit of God ? If John so wrote, 
so wrote they all. 

Ex uno disce omnes. 



54 INTERPEETATION, 



CHAPTEK V. 

AXIOMS OF BIBLICAL ESTTEEPEETATION. 

Every science has its Axioms, or first principles, 
deemed worthy of being laid deep at its very basis ; 
and as we claim for Biblical interpretation tbe dig- 
nity of a science, it is but proper that first of all, we 
shonld lay down some of those preliminary and fun- 
damental facts on which it rests. That we should 
-both determine what these axioms are, and record 
them, is as essential to consistency, as to correctness 
in the great work before us. 

AXIOM. I. 

The Bible was written under the special inspira- 
tion of the Holy Spirit. 

If it should be objected that this is not of the nature 
of a self-evident position, we reply, it is a position 
fully proved, and therefore in the very nature of the 



ITS AXIOMS. 55 

case, it is the foundation principle of this science. 
The fact of inspiration is connected with every sen- 
tence of the Bible, and hence we record it properly 
as our first axiom. It must be disproved before it 
can be displaced. 

AXIOM n. 

In all its communications the Bible has one mean- 
ing to convey, and no more. 

It was the denial of this axiom which led the 
Fathers into so many perversions of the Scriptures. 
Much of the error in Germany at this day, is tracea- 
ble to the same source. It is common there for 
preachers to explain their text in its grammatical, 
historical, and doctrinal sense ; as though the Scrip- 
ture had not one, but three meanings, all distinct, 
and all true ! And to the same mistake it is owing 
that many insist upon, what they call, the double 
sense of prophecy. But beyond all doubt, the law 
imposed by our Lord on His disciples, " Let your yea 
be yea, and your nay, nay ; for whatsoever is more 
than these cometh of evil," is the law of every in- 
spired communication to man. There can be no 
violation of this precept on the part of the Spirit of 
God. 



56 INTERPRETATION. 

AXIOM m. 

As one necessary condition of a revelation was 
that it should be made in human language ; there- 
fore the Bible being so given, can be understood by 
all for whom it was intended. It is an intelligible 
bookj and open to all the world. 

AXIOM IV. 

Although the words in which the Bible is written 
be such only as men use in the daily intercourse of 
life, yet none the less are they such as God aptly 
chose, as the all-sufficient vehicles of His truth, and 
will, to men. 

The choice of words we regard as a very impor- 
tant part of a revelation; and those who call in 
question the fitness or sufficiency of the words, know 
not what they do. A wrong word conveys a wrong 
meaning ; but the best words were selected, as it is 
written, Ps. xii. 6, ^'The words of the Lord are 
pure words; as silver tried in the furnace of 
earth, purified seven times;" and 1 Cor. ii. 13, 
"Which things also we speak, not in the words 
which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy 
Spirit teacheth." 



ITS AXIOMS. 57 

AXIOM y. 

There is a strict doctrinal agreement among all the 
writers of the Bible, secured by the inspiring guid- 
ance of the Spirit. Mistakes of copiers and interpo- 
lations are of course excepted, if such there be. It 
is probable there are such mistakes, but they must 
be proved, before they can be admitted, to invali- 
date our maxim. 

AXIOM VI. 

The doctrinal agreement between the writers of 
the Bible, is in. the sense, and not in the mere words 
employed. 

The reason is obvious. "Words are simply signs 
of ideas, and, from the frequency and caprice of their 
use, they often express ideas the very opposite of 
those for which they usually stand. It is very com- 
mon for men to say in words the very opposite of 
what they intend. Our axiom is that the sacred 
writers agree in sense, though not in words. 

AXIOM vn. 

As every writer of the Bible is in harmony as 
respects his meaning, with the others ; so, is he always 
in harmony with himself. 



58 nTTEEPEETATION. 



AXIOM vrrr. 



Between tlie statements of the Bible, and tlie facts 
of natural science, and the history of the world, 
there mnst be an essential agreement, whether there 
exists the evidence to prove it or not. Time devours 
documents ; and mnch of the history of the world 
never was written. But the fact of this agreement 
is deduced from the primary axiom, affirming inspi- 
ration. The Spirit of all truth could not fail to 
guide the writers free from all errors respecting 
natural science and the history of the world. It is 
high consolation that there is not one such error in 
all the Bible. 

AXIOM IX. 

The Bible is not to be interpreted by any creed or 
confession of faith. 

Creeds and confessions of faith show merely how 
their authors interpret the Bible. On what princi- 
ple then can such interpretations be made the cri- 
terion of the sense of Scripture. They may be right, 
they may be wrong; but they cannot bring the 
Bible to their bar, and set up the claim, that at their 
bidding it must teach this or that. 

It is the master of all creeds, the sovereign ot 



ITS AXIOMS. 69 

all confessions of faith, in whose presence they must 
all bow and do reverence. It is very customary to 
quote the church formula, and say the Bible teaches 
so ; but in every instance, those who fall into this 
error, proclaim only how great their ignorance is of 
the Word of God. 



AXIOM X. 

While the Bible has one meaning in every passage 
and no more, it does not follow that the words 
employed by the sacred writers have always one 
meaning and no more. 

Yet it is a settled theory with some, that certain 
leading words in Scripture have but one meaning, 
and only one. On what evidence they found this 
position we cannot so much as imagine. The appeal 
must be made to the Bible itself; for this position 
is not by any means self-evident. There are those, 
whose separate communion is upheld and justified 
simply on the ground that the word " baptize " has 
only one meaning, and no more. But on turning to 
the Bible, we find that (1) in Mark vii. 4, it is used 
to mean the washing of hands ; (2) in 1 Cor. x. 2, it 
is used to signify consecration to the leadership of 
Moses ; (3) in Luke iii. 16, it is used to signify the 
abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and the 



60 INTEEPKETATION. 

infliction of the wrath of God ; two very different 
and opposite meanings in one sentence! See also 
Mat. iii. 11, Acts xi. 16, 1 Cor. xii. 13. (4) In Lnke 
xii. 50, our Lord employed the word to signify the 
peculiar sufferings then in store for himself as the 
sacrifice for sin. So also in Mat. xx. 22-3, and in 
Mark x. 38. "Where then is the one only meaning 
of the word ? It cannot be found. 

Indeed, as all the world knows, there is no such 
thing in existence as a word with only one meaning. 
Just as well might it be pretended that every word 
has but one use, and no more ; for the use to which 
a word is put gives it its meaning, and men do not 
hesitate to put every word to a thousand uses. Ex- 
amples are on every page of the Scriptures; and 
yet there is harmony of sense and doctrine there. 
The vision of Ezekiel, i. 4-26, is a beautiful illus- 
tration of this point. There is the most wonder- 
ful complexity and variety among the living crea- 
tures, and, at the same time, the most complete 
unity of purpose. " And they went every one straight 
forward ; whither the Spirit was to go they went ; 
and they turned not when they went." The words 
of the Scripture have many meanings ; because they 
have many uses ; but they express always the one 
sense of the Spirit; they go straight forward, turn- 
ing neither to the right nor to the left ; whither the 



ITS AXIOMS. 61 

Spirit goeth, they go. To speak the mind of the 
Holy Spirit is their only mission. 

AXIOM XI. 

The interpretation which the Bible has given of its 
own meaning is in every case to be adopted. 

The words e. g. Mat. xvi. 19, " And I will give 
unto thee the keys of the Eangdom of Heaven," 
receive their best interpretation by the simple his- 
torical statement in Acts, where an account is given 
of the apostle's success "in opening the door of faith 
unto the Gentiles," Acts xii. 47, and xv. 7. The 
Saviour's explanation of the parables are also illus- 
trations in point ; as likewise the various definitions 
given of the prophetic symbols in the prophets. 

The Bible is an extended commentary on itself. 
To explain its own meaning is one^of the great 
objects which it aims to secure. Hence of all the 
books ever written in explanation of the Bible, the 
best, beyond any doubt, is the Bible itself. This is 
the explanation of the fact, that those who read it 
most without note or comment, carefully comparing 
parallel passages, are proverbially the best instructed 
in its doctrines, and stand firmest in the faith of its 
awful mysteries. 



62 INTEEPEETATION. 

AXIOM xn. 

Omission is not misstatement; narration is not 
approval of the events narrated; additional testi- 
mony is not of necessity contradictory testimony. 

These simple maxims are of no small value. In 
relating the same events, the same particulars are 
not always noted, but this does not convict the 
writers of falsehood, or of error in any sense. Tes- 
timony in part does not vitiate the whole, when the 
writer's object does not require him to narrate the 
whole. In recording the sins of good men, there is 
no approbation intended toward these sins ; but the 
contrary. Attention to these simple positions will 
preclude many objections, and relieve many alleged 
difficulties. 

AXIOM xm. 

We are not to judge of events in the Bible exclu- 
sively by the standard of our own times. 

The manners, the social and political life of the 
people, their customs, must all be considered. The 
Bible is best understood in the light of its own home. 
Kor are we to neglect profane history, when its help 
can be obtained. So likewise the geography, the 
natural history of the country, and the idioms of 
the languages in which the Bible was first written, 



rrs AXIOMS. 63 

are worthy of attention. It is not meant that a per- 
son must read and make himself master of all that 
has been written on these various topics, before he 
can ascertain the meaning of the Scriptures; only let 
him not neglect the aid offered him from these 
sources. The researches of Dr. Edward Eobinson 
in Palestine, we note as a book of vast utility under 
this head. 

AXIOM xrv. 

We must not come with a faith, but to obtain a 
faith from the Scriptures. 

While the use of reason is indispensable in the 
interpretation of the Bible, we are carefully to dis- 
tinguish between its right use, and its claiming an 
authority superior to inspiration. The Bible and all 
its mysteries is put unconditionally into our hands to 
be interpreted; yet its relation to us can never 
change. It is always the Word of God ; and our 
duty is evermore to approach it, in the spirit of Him 
who said : " Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." 
Allowing man his place next the angels in intelli- 
gence, even then there is an inJBnite distance between 
him and the Bible ; even then, he has not reached 
that eminence from which he can overlook its sources 
of knowledge. " Who hath directed the Spirit of 



64 INTERPEETATION. 

the Lord, or being His counsellor hath tanght 
Him ?" 

Were we called on to say, after all our researches 
into this subject, what error men are most prone to 
commit, in respect to the Bible, we would answer 
without hesitation, it is the error of bringing with 
them a faith to the Bible, to which thev demand 
that the Bible shall conform. 

The true ground on which to stand is, that when 
we admit the Bible to be a revelation from God, we 
admit it with all its appropriate characteristics ; one of 
which is, its indisputable superiority over the powers 
of the human mind, both as respects the discovery 
of the truth, and the right method of stating the 
truth. When we receive the Bible in this manner 
we honor it, and are taught of God ; when we insist 
that our faith and philosophy shall lord it over reve- 
lation and tell, the Bible both what to say, and how 
to say it, we dishonor the Author of the Bible, and 
are taught of ourselves. 

AXIOM XV. 

Theories, or doctrines that have no foundation in 
the Bible, are to have no influence or authority in 
its interpretation. 

The Bible is complete in itself; having authority 



ITS AXIOMS- 65 

sufficient for its doctrines, and evidence witMn itself, 
not to be questioned, substantiating all its claims. 
It is a circle ; a boundary, in nature, beyond wbich. 
no human mind can go, without a new revelation 
from God. Hence all theories and doctrines of mere 
human invention have no weight whatever in decid- 
ing the meaning of the Bible. Because to grant 
them any decisive control in such a matter, would 
be to subject the will of God to the will of man, 
and the wisdom of God to the wisdom of man; 
the Omniscient to the ignorant, the wise to the 
foolish. 

"We find an illustration of our axiom, in regard 
to the theory of some respecting the human race. 
They hold that there is a plurality, not a unity of 
races ; that mankind did not descend from one man. 
Their doctrine is extra the Bible; and we cannot 
allow it any place, or influence, or authority what- 
ever, in the interpretation of the Word of God, 
which it so palpably contradicts. There is war 
between their theory and the Bible, and there is no 
possibility of an honorable peace between them- 
The whole drift of the Bible, and several of its 
direct assertions, are decisive that the human family 
came from one common head — in Adam. Come 
what may, therefore, of opposing theories, they may 
not sway us one iota in our interpretations. 



66 INTEEPEETATION. 



AXIOM XYI. 



While the Bible is infallible and capable of being 
understood, its infallibility does not pass over to its 
interpreters. They may err ; the Bible never errs. 

AXIOM XVII. 

Those who possess the state of heart enjoined in 
the Word of God, are most likely to succeed in its 
interpretation. Because in that case, there is a kin- 
dred state of mind existing between the interpreter 
and the thing interpreted. 

In human experience, a native best comprehends 
the language of a native, a friend best comprehends 
the language of a friend. Many young converts tell 
how the Bible suddenly becomes to them a new 
book. " If any man will do his will, he shall know 
of the doctrine :" Jno. vii. 17. 

The above Axioms are set down as primary prin- 
ciples, worthy of being kept constantly in view, in 
all our interpretations. To enter on the business of 
unfolding the sense of the Scriptures, without regard 
to such principles, is to proceed to sea without a 
compass. 

On the firm, and every way safe basis which they 



ITS AXIOMS. 



afford, we now advance to the statement of those 
general laws, or ultimate decisions of common sense, 
by which our investigations into the meaning of the 
Sacred Scriptures are strictly to be governed. 



68 INTERPRETATION. 



CHAPTEE YI. 

THE BASIS OF ALL RIGHT RULES IN THIS SCIENCE. 

Before we proceed to lay down any rules for the 
interpretation of tlie Scriptures, it is necessary first 
of all, to define clearly what we mean by a rule, and 
what is the true basis or ultimate principle of all 
right rules. We shall then proceed intelligently, 
having a criterion before us of all our decisions, and 
a test whereby all differences of interpretation may 
be reconciled, or shown to be erroneous. 

What is a rule ? We answer, a rule in this science, 
is a principle, or law by which we are to be governed 
in determining the meaning of the Scriptures, to 
which indeed, in certain cases, there may be valid 
exceptions, but which, nevertheless, is of final 
authority, when no valid exceptions hold. Excep- 
tions are not incidental to all rules. They have force 
only where the rule is simply an approximation to 
the truth. But the instances in which this occurs are 



BASIS OF ITS LAWS. 69 

not many, and the only reason why there are any at 
all, is that nsage, in language, is capricions ; it pro- 
ceeds on no fixed principles. Hence, there are pro- 
positions, or principles which are merely general, 
and not universal, and in these cases there are excep- 
tions, but where the principle is universal, there no 
exceptions hold. 

What then is the basis of all right rules, or princi- 
ples of interpretation? 

To this point our attention is called in 2 Pet. i. 
20. There it is said: "No prophecy is of any 
private interpretation," and the reason assigned is, 
that prophecy is given from God. On this is built 
the conclusion, that we must take heed to our princi- 
ples of interpretation ; they must be, not the narrow 
convictions of an individual, but such as become 
writings given from God, for the edification and 
guidance of all men ; such, therefore, as spring from 
the universal convictions of the common sense of 
men, and fitted to stand the test of reason ; for if 
they bear not that test, they must be unworthy to be 
applied to a book designed for the use and under- 
standing of mankind. From this passage, therefore, 
we infer clearly the only proper basis of all correct 
rules of Biblical interpretation : they must violate 
no universal decision of common sense ; or, in other 
words, a rule of interpretation, to be correct, must be 



70 mTERPEETATION. 

based on the just, and generally accepted decisions 
of the human mind. 

Whatever may be said of this basis, so far as we 
can judge, there is no other, on which we can depend. 
If we abjure the innate common sense of men, what 
have we to put in its place ? There has been a great 
outcry against human reason, as though it is not worthy 
to be the basis of any religious decisions. We admit 
reason cannot correct revelation, it cannot refute it, 
nor add any new truth to the catalogue of its pecu- 
liar doctrines. But there is a province in which it 
can act, and in which it is supreme. It can judge 
of right and wrong, of truth and error, of the Word 
of God, and of that to which the Word of God 
stands opposed ; and its own integrity, in the proper 
exercise of its powers, is the only guarantee for all its 
just conclusions. 

Common sense, therefore, we lay down, as the basis 
of all correct principles, or rules of interpretation. 

To show how this basis applies to our subject, we 
affirm it a right decision of the human mind, that an 
inspired writer can make- himself understood. If 
then any rule is proposed for the interpretation of the 
Scriptures, adverse to this decision, it is not to be 
entertained ; becaus*e in its application, it could only 
lead to error. Or, if it should be advanced as a 
principle, that an inspired writer cannot express his 



BASIS OF ITS LAWS. Yl 

whole meaning, this also we would reject, because, 
if there be any difficulties in the nature of language, 
or in the nature of the subject, or in the capacities 
of those to whom the revelation is given, such as 
operate positively to hinder the full expression of the 
writer's meaning, then this strikes directly at the 
possibility of a revelation, and it cannot be enter- 
tained for a moment. It is here that the author of 
the book " God in Christ,'^ has greatly gone out of 
the way. In his long and elaborate introduction, he 
is anxious to establish the dogma of the insufficiency 
of language, even in the hands of the Holy Spirit, as 
a vehicle of truth, and this chiefly in reference to the 
important doctrine of the supreme divinity of Christ. 
But granting him his point, we submit, on the strength 
of his own favorite dogma, whether, in consistency, 
he ought not, in illustration of his own doctrine, to 
leave writing on the nature of language, and of 
Christ, entirely alone ? For surely, if an inspired 
writer, with all the aid of the Spirit of God, cannot 
make his meaning clear and intelligible, a fortiori 
an uninspired writer must give up all such efforts in 
despair — unless indeed, a man not inspired has alto- 
gether the advantage over one who enjoys the help 
of the Holy Spirit ! 

Once more ; it is a correct decision of common 
sense that an inspired writer must have but one self- 



Y2 INTEEPEETATION. 

consistent, and intended meaning to convey. Any- 
other conclusion would be unworthy of revelation. 
If then any rule is proposed, implying a double 
meaning in the Scriptures, or as many meanings as 
the language would by any means bear, it is not to 
be adopted. The universal expectation of men, 
founded on their ideas of the veracity of God, is, that 
in revealing His will, He will speak sincerely and 
directly the thing He means, and no more. 

Finally, it is another just decision of common 
sense, that the sacred writers under the guidance of 
the Spirit of God, must write in harmony with the 
actual nature of things ; for to write in a contrary 
manner would not be to write the truth. It is abso- 
lutely certain therefore, on this ground, that the 
Bible does always speak consistently with the true 
nature of all the objects of which it treats. And 
hence, if any law of exegesis be proposed, which in 
its fair application must lead to a sense contrary to 
the nature of the objects spoken of, that law or rule 
is unsound and must not be adopted. Indeed, all 
laws or rules of interpretation must proceed on the 
ground that inspired writers will speak of all things 
according to their nature, and not otherwise. 

These remarks will show to some extent, what the 
standard of correctness is, which we have here set 
lip. Eules to be correct, and worthy of adoption, 



BASIS OF ITS LAWS. 72- 

must be founded on tlie just decisions of tlie human 
mind. They must commend themselves to the hon- 
est convictions of men. Like definitions in Mathe- 
matics, they must carry with them the understand- 
ing, and as it were, compel the assent of the mind, 
at the first glance. 

Keeping these principles strictly in view, we now 
proceed to the work of interpretation, and lay down 
the general rules of the science, with examples of 
the manner in which we apply them, in ascertaining 
the true sense of the Sacred Scriptures. 

Thou, Spirit, that dost prefer 
Before all temples, the upright heart, and pure, 
Instruct me, for thou knowest ; 
— what in me is dark 
Illumine ; what is low, raise, and support, 
That to the height of this great argument 
I may assert eternal Providence 
And justify the ways of God to man! 



74 INTEEPEETATION. 



CHAPTER VII. 

GENEEAL EULES FOE THE mTEEPEETATION OF SCEIPTUEE. 

A EULE of interpretation, according to our defini- 
tion, is a principle by which we are to be governed 
in our efforts to ascertain the meaning of the Scrip- 
tures. It is founded on the just decisions of com- 
mon sense, and except where limited by some inci- 
dental circumstance, arising from the nature of the 
proposition, it is authoritative and final on every 
judgment we may form relative to the sense of the 
Sacred Volume. 

I. FIEST GEKEEAL EXILE. 

The first rule w^e lay down therefore is, that the 
literal or obvious meaning of Scripture is generally 
the true meaning. 

By the literal meaning here, we do not intend the 
meaning of the letter strictly, as opposed to that 
which is figurative ; but the plain and obvious sense 



GENERAL EULES. Y5 

of the words in their ordinary signification. Onr 
rule proceeds on the ground that the Bible was 
written for the whole world, and that therefore to 
meet the universal expectation of men, its meaning 
lies for the most part transparent and clear on the 
surface, before the eyes of all who seek after it with 
an honest mind. It was a familiar saying of Lnther, 
'^ the literal meaning of the Scripture is the whole 
foundation of faith ; the only thing that stands its 
ground in distress and temptation." The power of 
this maxim he fully proved in the great Eeforma- 
tion. 

The meaning, then, which lies plainly on the sur- 
face, and is contained in the letter of the Scripture, 
in its ordinary signification, is generally the true 
meaning. 

But in this instance our rule is only an approxima- 
tion to the truth, and is limited by the following 
exceptions : 

FIRST EXCEPnOK. 

Where the literal meaning asserts that which 
involves a known impossibility, it must be given 
up. 

By a known impossibility, we mean a position 
such as the following : a doctrine can both be true 



76 mTEEPEETATIOl^. 

and false; two objects can occupy the same place, at 
the same moment ; a moral being can be guilty of 
sin, before the exercise of his moral faculties ; a moral 
being can act before he exists. 

But it cannot be conceived possible that the Spirit 
of God should in any case design to assert such posi- 
tions as these. Hence this exception to our first 
general rule, becomes itself a rule of interpretation, 
and we apply it in all the passages which seem to 
assert a known impossibility, like any of those above. 
For example, Ps. Iviii. 3, '• The wicked are estranged 
from the womb ; they go astray, as soon as they be 
born, speaking lies." The meaning of the letter here 
is, that the wicked go astray, or sin, the same mo- 
ment in which they are born ; and that in the same 
moment, they both walk and speak lies ! It is simply 
incredible that such can be the intended sense of this 
passage. 

Jer. xii. 13, "They have sown wheat, but shall 
reaj) thorns." Did the prophet mean just so ? 

1 Cor. XV. 22, " For as in Adam all die, even so in 
Christ shall all be made alive." These words, " as 
in Adam all die," cannot be intended to say that all 
men existed in Adam ; nor that they all sinned in 
his person ; nor that they all died when he died. 
These are known impossibilities. One person cannot 
be all mankind ; all mankind cannot be one person ; 



GENERAL RULES. 77 

men cannot exist before they exist ; they cannot die 
before they live ; they cannot sin before they act. 

Amost every page of the Bible will furnish ex- 
amples of onr exception ; and that candor, which is 
the proof of a sane mind, will not fail to see that to 
insist on the meaning of the mere letter, in snch 
cases, is the most certain method of bringing the 
Bible into contempt. 

SECOND EXCEPTION. 

When the meaning of the mere letter is evidently 
contrary to reason, it is not the true meaning. 

This exception, though logically involved in the 
first, we prefer to state separately in these terms ; for 
the sake of giving a wider application to the prin- 
ciple on which it is based, and because we wish here 
to restore to its true use a canon of interpretation, 
the perversion of which has led to many great errors. 
It is well known that in Germany, under the phrase 
" pure reason," it was attempted, simply by way of 
interpretation, to get rid of Christianity altogether. 
And some of the most plausible and mischievous of 
all attacks on religion have been made under pre- 
tence that its doctrines are repugnant to reason. AH 
such attacks we wish to forestall. Our chief weapon 
for the defence of religion, and of the Bible, its text- 



78 INTERPRETATION^. 

book, is our reason, rationally used. And on this 
ground we feel sure that the Spirit of God, speaking 
in the Scriptures, does not in any instance intend to 
assert for truth what is evidently contrary to the 
decisions of human reason rightly employed. It 
may indeed be that things beyond the comprehen- 
sion of reason are asserted, and facts announced, 
such as are properly inscrutable to the mind of man. 
But to assert things which reason cannot compre- 
hend in their modes, is not equivalent to asserting 
things contrary to the innate dictates of reason. It 
is one thing to reveal what reason does not and can- 
not know of itself, and it is quite another thing, pal- 
pably to contradict decisions, which reason cannot 
but make, in the legitimate use of its powers. 
The former Scripture has often done; the latter, 
never. 

In illustration of our exception, we refer to passages 
such as the following : Heb. xii. 29, " For our God is 
a consuming fire." By the mere letter, this asserts the 
ancient doctrine of the Persians, that God is Hterally 
the principle of fire ; but any such interpretation 
would be at war with common sense. So also, Jer. 
xxiii. 24, " Do I not fill heaven and earth, saith the 
Lord." Here the mere letter is Pantheism; but 
nothing could be more opposite to reason. Jno. vi. 
53, ''Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and 



GENERAL RULES. 79 

drink His blood, ye have no life in yon." The letter 
of the passage mnst snrely be given np, as contrary 
to all reason. Phil. ii. 12, " For it is God that 
worketh in yon both to will and to do of His good 
pleasure." If we interpret these words, so as to make 
the divine agency exclude and wholly absorb the 
agency of the believer, onr interpretation would 
be contrary to reason, and wrong; it would deny 
the identity and activity of the human mind, and 
contradict just what the passage in its true sense 
means to affirm. It is not God who " willeth and 
doeth," but who worketh or produces the willing and 
the doing in the mind of the wilier and the doer. 

THIRD EXCEPTION. 

When the literal meaning contradicts any positive 
precept of Scripture, it must be abandoned. 

The basis of this exception is the principle that 
the Bible is self-consistent in all its teachings, 
through the inspiration of the Spirit. 

For example. Mat. xviii. 9, " If thine eye offend 
thee, pluck it out," &c. If a strictly literal inter- 
pretation were insisted on here, it would be at vari- 
ance with the sixth commandment. So also Eph. iv. 
26, " Be ye angry and sin not." One of the posi- 
tive precepts of the Gospel forbids all anger. How 
then are we to interpret the first clause of the above 



80 INTERPRETATION. 

passage consistently witli the above precept ? The 
feeling of the mind described by the word " anger " 
is complex^ and consists of a perception of some 
wrong suffered, and of a desire to be revenged. 
The first feeling — the perception of the injnry suf- 
fered — is a right feeling, and ought to be diligently 
cultivated, because it is needful to keep alive in our 
minds the distinction between right and wrong in 
conduct. But the second feeling, a desire for 
revenge, is expressly forbidden. Hence we inter- 
pret the above passage thus : when you receive an 
Injury be not insensible thereto ; take full cognizance 
of it, as a wrong — "be ye angry;" but there let 
your feelings rest; "sin not," cherish no wish for 
revenge. For it is written, " Vengeance is mine, I 
will repay, saith the Lord." This meaning violates 
no precept, and is the sense of the passage. Prov. 
xxiii. 2, " Put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man 
given to appetite." This is not an exhortation to 
suicide, but a warning against gluttony. 

FOURTH EXCEPTION. 

The literal meaning is not the true meaning, 
when there is an express limitation of it elsewhere 
affirmed. 

Such is the nature of all writing, that limitations 
of previous statements would seem to be as necessary 



GENERAL RULES. 81 

as words themselves. Every writer makes use of 
them to set his meaning in its proper light ; and the 
more direct and simple his manner of writing, the 
greater need of just such explanations of the sense. 
Thus of all writers of the Bible, John is the most 
simple and direct in his style, yet none of them 
seems to be under such constant necessity to qualify 
his language. For example, John i. 11, 12 ; '' He came 
unto his own, and his own received him not." From 
this it would seem that not a solitary Jew believed in 
Christ. But in the next sentence, is the needful lim- 
itation, '^But as many as received him." &c. A 
very slight examination of John's writings will 
supply many more illustrations ; see also Judges ix. 5. 
Mat. xxvi. 60. John i. 8, with iii. 9. In 1 Chron. 
xxiii. 13 ; it is said the priesthood is established "for 
ever." But in Jer. xxxi. 31-4. and Heb. 8th and 9th 
chapters, the continuance of the priesthood, and of 
the whole old dispensation is limited to "the set 
time," when that dispensation should be done away. 
Our interpretations, to be correct, must never lose 
sight of this principle. 

"With these four exceptions, for which there is cer- 
tainly good ground, and which, in their operation, 
become rules not to be overlooked, we re-affirm our 
great first law of Biblical exegesis, viz., the literal, 
or obvious meaning of any passage is generally to 



82 INTERPEETATION. 

be taken as tlie trne meaning. In setting this fortli 
as the fijrst and fundamental law of interpretation, 
we go directly contrary to the whole body of early 
interpreters. In their view, it was a dishonor to the 
JBible to represent its meaning as lying patent on the 
surface. The more deep and hidden the sense, the 
more worthy it was of their faith, the more truly did 
it prove itself the Word of God ! But the evidence 
is all too abundant, that this love of a deep and 
hidden sense wrought no good, but incalculable mis- 
chief. It was one of the sources of the great apos- 
tasy. In its essence, it is a mere conceit, unworthy 
of the Sacred Yolume. 

It is a striking fact, in this connection, that many 
in modern times, have made the literal sense, especi- 
ally in the prophetic writings, one of the most fruit- 
ful sources of error. In their view, all prophecies 
are to be fulfilled in the very letter of the prediction. 
There never was a more shallow, or false view taken, 
either of the nature, or fulfillment of prophecy. Let 
any one attempt the application of this principle to 
the first prophecy in the Bible, and he will find out 
its inherent incorrectness. 

SECOND GENERAL RULE. 

The rule which properly follows that given above, 



GENEEAL KULES. 83 

is one naturally growing out of it ; viz. : Figurative 
langange must be carefully distingnished from 
its opposite, and interpreted according to its 
nature. 

The opposite of fignratiye language, is the lan- 
guage of the mere letter, in which there is no attempt 
at illustration, or comparison ; and the principle of 
our rule is, that whatever is literal must be inter- 
preted according to the rule already specified, and 
whatever is figurative, must be interpreted in consis- 
tency with the laws of figurative language. "What 
these laws are, is more particularly pointed out, in 
the remarks on the parables and poetry of the Bible, 
under Eule XL The point which we wish here more 
especially to settle, is, that to secure correct interpre- 
tation, figurative language is not to be confounded 
with its opposite, but receive its explanation, on prin- 
ciples such as its nature justifies. 

For illustration, we refer to the first six verses of 
the 20th chapter of Revelation. From these verses, 
it is well known, an attempt is made, and has long 
been made, to show that at the beginning of the 
millenium, there will be a literal and personal 
appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, a resurrection 
of all the saints already in the grave, and the contin- 
uance of their reign with our Lord, at Jerusalem, for 
a thousand years. 



84 INTERPRETATION. 

But beyond all rational doubt, this is a palpable 
mistake, arising out of a neglect of our present rule. 
The whole passage is a figurative prediction, accord- 
ing to the genius of the entire book, of real events 
yet to occur in the history of the Gospel. But instead 
of interpreting the passage on this principle, the 
nature of the language has been overlooked, and 
that which is purely figurative, or symbolical, has 
been regarded as purely literal. Especially has this 
been done with verses 4, 5, 6 ; while it has been 
fully conceded, by those who have persisted in this 
error, that verses 1, 2, 3, respecting the descent of 
the angel, the binding of the dragon and his impri- 
sonment for a thousand years, are not literal, but 
figurative. This admission is fatal to their whole 
theory. For the whole passage should be inter- 
preted on the same principle throughout. It is 
wholly a figurative description, and therefore does 
not admit of a literal interpretation. Hence, there 
will be no literal appearance of our Lord, no literal 
resurrection of the saints, no literal reign of a thou- 
sand years at Jerusalem ; but simply, results in the 
history of the Gospel, which may not improperly be 
compared to such events. This is all that this cele- 
brated passage intends to affirm. 

It is a violation of our present rule, also, which 
leads to a belief in the return of the Jews, as a 



GENERAL KULES. 85 

nation, to Jndea. There are many passages from the 
prophets quoted to sustain that belief, and at present 
it is quite a popular belief among a certain class of 
writers. There can be no doubt, however, as to its ori- 
gin. In Ezek. xxxvi. 25, to the end, it is said : " Te 
shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers ;" 
" I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the 
desolate lands shall be tilled," and all such language, 
it is contended, is prophetic of events yet to be lite- 
rally fulfilled ; therefore, it follows, that the Jews will 
be restored to their own land, and to the glory of an 
independent nation. Tlie passages quoted most fre- 
quently, are Is. Ix. 1-22. Jer. xxiii. 1-8. xxxi. 28-34. 
Ezek. xxxvii. Dan. xii. 1. Zech. viii. 12, chapters 12, 
13, 14. 

But we have never been able to understand the 
above, and kindred passages, in this light. A thou- 
sand objections occur to prevent us from forming any 
such judgment of the sense of these prophecies. 
One is, that Ezekiel's prophecy was actually fulfilled 
in the return from the captivity. The natural chro- 
nology of the prophecy is to this effect ; hence, 
there is no warrant for applying it to any other 
future events. The others are parallel prophecies, 
and have the same explanation. 

But if this whole prophecy of Ezekiel is yet to be 
literally fulfilled, and an actual return to take place, 



86 INTEEPRETATION. 

then be it noted that, according to Chap, xxxvii. 24, 
which is a continuance of the same prophecy, and 
subject to the same principles of interpretation, 
Dayid is to be their King ! And yet more, accord- 
ing to ver. 36, there are to be " heathen left round 
about," which does not at all comport with our ideas 
of the millenium ; and further, if the literal sense is 
to be insisted on, then when the Jews return, they 
return simply as Jews, and remain as such, in the 
practice of all the ancient rites of their ancient reli- 
gion, to the end of the world, so far as the text of 
this prophecy is concerned. The letter, therefore, 
of these prophecies is fatal to the very sentiments it 
is brought to sustain. 

Our object here does not permit us to refer to the 
general argument from the evident design of the 
Gospel, as contrary to all such notions, as the restora- 
tion of the Jewish nation; but, beyond a doubt, 
Jerusalem has served its purpose, and the peculiar 
people have served their purpose, and the land is not 
theirs any more, seeing the glory has departed, and 
the law is supplanted by a more glorlbus dispensation ; 
and every land is now a holy land, and every place 
a Jerusalem, and every believer a son of Abraham ; 
and Jesus, David's Lord, is King in Zion for ever- 
more ; so that the next return of the Jews will be a 
spiritual return to the God of their Fathers, and to the 



GENERAL RULES. 87 

faith of Christ, and to a spiritual worship, established, 
not in the earthly courts of a temple made with 
hands, but in the heart, by the renewing influences 
of the Sprit of God. 

Eom. vi. 4, " Therefore we are buried with him 
by baptism into death," &c. These words furnish 
another illustration of our canon. It is contended 
by some that Paul means to say baptism is a symbol 
of the burial of Christ, and that therefore it must 
be performed by immersion, or a literal 'burial of 
the whole person in the water. But if the strictly 
literal sense of the word '^ buried" is to be insisted 
on, then for the same reason we insist that when 
Paul says in the next verse, '^for if we have been 
planted together in the likeness of his death," he 
means that we must in some way be put into the 
ground, or litersiilj planted like trees. What absur- 
dity is this ! Neither in the one case, nor in the 
other, is the language here to be taken literally. 
The meaning of the apostle is seen in his object. 
He is insisting on holiness of life in Christians. 
One of his arguments is taken from the fact of their 
baptism ; he says, " they were buried with Christ in 
baptism;" not intending to describe the mode but 
the fact of their baptism, and to aflirm that thereby 
they were consecrated to Christ and pledged to his 
service. On this fact he insists, saying — that as 



8 8 INTERPRETATION. 

Christ, being once dead and bm-ied, was raised up 
to life again by the power of God, so they, being 
baptized, should be holy, and walk in newness of 
life. The words "buried" and "planted" are there- 
fore used figuratively, and must so be understood ; 
and consequently they have nothing to do with the 
mode of baptism. 

Our rule is one that cannot be dispensed with. If 
figurative language is confounded with literal lan- 
guage, it is impossible to interpret the Bible con- 
sistently with truth, or with itself. Augustine saw 
this when he laid it down as a necessary principle 
of exegesis, that the literal and the figurative must 
be carefully distinguished, the one from the other. 

THIRD GENERAL RULE. 

A third general rule of correct interpretation is, 
that deductions, or inferences are not to be drawn 
from any text or passage, until its meaning has been 
ascertained. 

This principle is more frequently violated than 
almost any other in the science ; and in these viola- 
tions are deeply imbedded many of the most hurtful 
errors with which religion is infested. Thus Mat. 
xvi. 28, is quoted, " Thou art Peter, and upon this 
xock I will build my Church," and immediately the 



GENERAL KULES. 89 

deduction is made, uhi Petrus ihi ecclesia! The 
Churcli of Rome is tlie true Cliurch, and can never 
fail. So Mat. xxviii. 18, '^ All power is given unto 
me in heaven, and in earth," and forthwith, the suc- 
cessors of Peter are infallible ; they have all power 
over doctrine and all ordinances, over kings and all 
governments, to bind, and to loose, to set up and pull 
down at their pleasure ! 

Cardinal Wolsey has left us an example of the 
manner in which our rule was transgressed in his 
day. " Touch not mine anointed, and do my pro- 
phets no harm," Ps. cv. 15 : "See," said the Cardinal, 
''To try a priest for any crime, is to violate God's 
law!" 

A missionary in Syria, has furnished the following 
specimens, gathered from actual observation among 
the people around him. " In Daniel, God is called 
' the ancient of days ;' hence, it is proper to picture 
Him as an old man, and then worship the picture. 
The angel said to Mary : ' Blessed art thou among 
women;' hence, we ought to worship the virgin! 
Christ breathed upon his apostles, and said, ' Receive 
ye the Holy Spirit ;' hence, every priest is inspired 
in all his official acts ! ' Wisdom hath hewn out her 
seven pillars,' therefore, the man who does not 
believe in the seven sacraments, is an infidel, and 
will certainly perish !" 



90 INTEKPRETATION. 

Iliis is Syrian interpretation ; and nothing is more 
common in our own country. Can there be any 
greater violence done to the Word of God ? Is not 
this what the Scripture itself calls wresting the 
Word of life ? The proper remedy is our rule. 
First, let the meaning of Scripture be ascertained ; 
and on that meaning, in a fair and impartial manner, 
build your inferences ; the sense first, then all legiti- 
mate conclusions in their order. The opposite 
method is a stealthy, dishonest attempt to shield our 
errors under cover of the Word of God. 



FOURTH GEJvnEEAL EULE. 

!N"o interpretation of any passage is to be enter- 
tained, which goes contrary to the Analogy of the 
Faith. 

To this it is usually objected, that every interpre- 
ter makes his own analogy of the faith, and this is 
nothing but every man becoming his own standard 
of interpretation. But in reply we aver, there is a 
harmony of doctrine existing between the writers 
of the Bible, by virtue of their inspiration, and our 
rule is, this harmony must not be violated. There can 
be no valid objection against such a canon. Yet if 
it may appear less open to objection, let it be stated 
in this form: No interpretation is correct, which 



GENERAL RULES. 91 

makes a sacred writer contradict himself, or the well- 
ascertained sentiments of any of the rest. 

All that we wish to secure, is the unity of doctrine 
which inheres in the Inspired Oracles ; and our rule 
is as necessary as it is valuable for that object. It 
is capable of many illustrations. Take 1 Cor. iii. 15 : 
" If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer 
loss ; but he himself shall be saved, so as by fire." 
The modern doctrine of purgatory, i. e. sin is purged 
by literal fire, is derived from this text. IsTot to insist 
on the meaning of these words as determined by their 
connection, we bring this modern doctrine of purga- 
tory, side by side with the grand system of doctrines, 
concerning which there never has been any dispute ; 
and the conclusion to which we come is, that any 
such interpretation of the passage must be false, 
because it goes contrary to the doctrines of the new 
birth, the doctrine of justification by faith, the 
merits of Christ's atonement, the uniform doctrine 
of the Bible, respecting the souls of the departed, 
and to many facts, recorded both in the Old Testa- 
ment and in the New. 

This is not to say that one text of Scripture is not 
authority sufficient for the establishment of a doc- 
trine ; it is simply saying that one text cannot con- 
tradict the whole manifest drift of the Bible. There 
is a harmony among the sacred writers not to be dis- 



92 INTERPBETATIOiT. 

turbed. Then if we examine the meaning of the 
above passage in its connection, we shall be satisfied 
that the doctrine of sin being pm^ged out of the soul 
after death by material fire, is not authorized at all 
in any sense, in these words of the apostle. 

Another passage we select, which from early times 
has been grossly misinterpreted, in violation of our 
rule. It is Gen. v. 3 : " And Adam lived an hun- 
dred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own 
likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth." 
The common interpretation has been that Seth was 
begotten a sinner, purely hecause Adam his father 
had sinned. Thus Calvin says: "In saying that 
Adam begat a son in his own likeness, Moses refers 
in part to the first origin of our nature ; at the same 
time its corruption and pollution are to be noticed, 
which having been contracted by Adam through 
the Fall, flowed down to all his posterity. Therefore 
Seth according to the flesh was born a sinner." 
There is first the assumption that corruption of 
nature was originated in Adam ; and then the 
inference, that it fiowed down to all his posterity ; 
and therefore Seth was born a sinner, because he 
was born in the likeness of Adam. 

The interpretation of EosenmuUer is different. 
He says, " More correctly do they hold, who think 
it is simply to be understood hitmanity^ in which 



GENEEAL RULES. 93 

Seth was like his father, withoiit respect to charac- 
ter." To this we do not greatly object, although we 
do not think it is the sense of the passage as intended 
by Moses ; but the view given by Calvin violates 
the entire analogy of the Bible, in regard to the 
manner in which men become sinners. That analogy 
is clearly as follows : this life is a state of probation, 
in which all have a fair chance of obedience, in 
which every man's character is according to his 
works ; and of his works every man must give an 
account in the day of judgment. Such is the gene- 
ral drift of the Bible on the point involved in this 
interpretation. If it be said, that the words " like- 
ness " and " image " imply sameness in moral cha- 
racter, we reply there is no evidence of any such 
fact, neither in the word itself, nor in its usage ; but 
very much to the opposite, James iii. 9, says men 
are made " in the similitude of God." Are they 
made like him in moral character ? In Eom. viii. 3, 
it is said, " sending his son in the likeness of sinful 
flesh." "Was our Lord then born a sinner ? Not at 
all. If Seth was a sinner born, by the law that like 
begets like, we have yet to learn it. There is no 
such law in regard to moral character. If there 
were, it would disprove all distinction between man 
and the brutes ; free agency would be a delusion ; 
this life would be a state of condemnation, in which 



9i INTERPRETATION. 

all the principles of natural justice would be violated 
by a law of nature ; immortal souls would be doomed 
to endless woe, not for their conduct, but for their 
nature, not for their sins, but for their being born of 
sinners. And if this be all just so, then common 
sense is outraged ; and let no teacher of the Gospel 
henceforth mock his fellow men with arguments on 
probation and destiny; what probation can there be, 
where all are condemned before the trial begins ? 

This is not to say that men do not inherit from 
Adam constitutional propensities, as distinct from 
moral propensities. We suppose and believe they 
do. But in no sense do these constitutional propen- 
sities, thus inherited, necessitate the commission of 
sin ; nor is there any evidence in the Scriptures 
that they are ever charged upon man as sinful. If 
they were resisted, as they should be, they would 
contribute to the stability of obedience in the soul. 
" Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for 
when he has overcome, he shall receive a crown of 
life." James i. 12. 

The true meaning of the above passage, as seen 
in its connection, is a record of Seth's name in the 
genealogy of the Church. JN"ext to his father, he 
bore the image of a man of God, and thus continued 
the line of the faithful. Cain was living when Seth 
was born, but his name is not given, nor is it said 



GENERAL RULES. 95 

that he was born in the image of his father. The 
reason is obvious. He was a wicked man, while 
Seth was a righteous man, like his father Adam, 
after his repentance and submission to God. 

The following texts are capable of the same per- 
version as that above. 1 Sam. ii. 25 : " Notwith- 
standing they hearkened not to the voice of their 
father, because the Lord would slay them." Prov. 
xvi, 4 : " The Lord hath made all things for Himself ; 
yea, even the wicked for the day of evil." Exod. 
xi. 10 : " The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, &o 
that he would not let Israel go out of the land." 
Is. xlv. 7 : "I make peace and create evil. I the 
Lord do all these things." Jno. xii. 37-40 : " But 
though he had done so many miracles before them, 
yet they believed not on him ; that the saying of 
Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he 
spake ; Lord, who hath believed our report ? and to 
whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? 
Therefore they could not believe, because that 
Esaias said again. He hath blinded their eyes and 
hardened their heart ; that they should not see with 
their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be 
converted, and I should heal them." 

Any interpretation of these and kindred texts, of 
which there are many more in the Scriptures, so as 
to make them teach the doctrine that God is the 



96 INTEEPEETATION. 

primary and efficient canse of sin, or that He gives it 
being in men, by a law of their nature, or, that he is 
in any degree desirous of its existence, must be 
false ; the analogy of the faith, the whole drift of the 
Bible forbids it. The Bible will not tolerate the 
idea that God is the author of sin, either directly or 
indirectly. He is angry with the wicked every day. 
In Him, and in all His ways towards men, there is no 
iniquity at all. By His righteous decree^ the wages 
of sin is eternal death. Our interpretations, there- 
fore, must have respect to the analogy of the faith. 
If they are contrary thereto, they are wrong. 

FIFTH GENEEAL EULE. 

No interpretation is correct which is contrary to 
the known nature of things. 

The ultimate principle on which we rest this canon, 
is the fact that the Bible, as an inspired book, from 
which error is excluded, contains nothing opposed to 
the known nature of things. We do not mean that 
the Bible contains nothing, but what man knows to 
be the nature of things ; for if it contained nothing 
but what man knows in respect to the nature of 
things, it would be no revelation ; it would be sim- 
ply a record of what man knows. But we mean, 
that as an inspired volume, the Bible everywhere 



GENERAL RULES. 97 

speaks consistently with things so far as they are 
known by man, in their natures, and not otherwise ; 
while at the same time, it reveals many things, for 
ever out of the reach of the powers of man to dis- 
cover. 

But many fall into error on this point. They 
accept the above rule, and when they meet with a 
text, for example, affirming the divinity of Chi^ist, 
they say, this cannot be ; because we know all about 
His nature, and no interpretation is correct which 
runs contrary to the known nature of things. Their 
error is obvious. They take for granted what they 
ought to prove. They ought to prove that they 
know all that is true of the nature of Christ. 
Instead of this, they presume that nothing can be 
true of Him, but what they know ! Yea, that the 
Holy Spirit did not mean what the plain and obvious 
sense of the language must mean, if any dependence 
whatever is to be placed on its teachings, when it 
declares that Christ is God over all, blessed for ever- 
more. 

It must be confessed there are some things about 
whose nature man can and does know somewhat; 
and if he does not know all that is true of them, 
yet he does know much that is ; and of com-se he 
can know when the things he does know are contra- 
dicted. For example, he can know respecting his 



98 mrERPRETATIOlT. 

own nature, that he is a free agent ; he is conscious 
of it. He can also know that his nature does not 
embrace the attribute of Omniscience; for a like 
reason, he is conscious of it. He can also know that 
his conscience does not accuse him of sins, which he 
never committed. But as this knowledge of his free 
agency, and of his not being omniscient, and of his 
conscience not accusing him of other men's sins, is 
strictly infallible, our position is that the Bible in no 
case contradicts it. In other words, the meaning of 
the Bible will be always consistent with the known 
nature of things in all cases in which that nature is 
known by men. 

For illustration, we take Eom. y. 19, " For as by 
one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so 
by the obedience of one shall many be made 
righteous." If now this be so interpreted as to 
mean that men are made sinners, merely by the sin 
of Adam, without their knowledge or consent, we 
interpose our rule. Such a sense is contrary to the 
known nature of man, as a free agent. That nature 
is such that he cannot be made a sinner, but by his 
own personal and voluntary choice. Besides, the 
terms of justification through the merits of Christ are 
such, that no man can partake of its benefits save by 
a personal and voluntary faith in him. If, therefore, 
men are not made righteous through Christ, except 



GENERAL RULES. 99 

on condition of their Yolnntaiy faith, neither, in all 
fairness, are they made sinners through Adam, except 
on condition of their breaking the divine law, 
through the free choice of their own wills. What- 
ever meaning, therefore, may be aflBxed to the pas- 
sage, it mnst be one that shall consist with the 
nature of man, and with the nature of sin ; for it is 
a primary principle, that the Scriptures everywhere 
speak in harmony with the nature of the objects 
of which they treat. This is a case where the maxim 
clearly applies : ea est accipienda interpretatio qucB 
vitio caret — the least, objectionable interpretation is 
always to be taken. 

Again, 2 Cor. v. 21, " For he hath made him to be 
sin for us, who knew no sin." Here would be a 
positive contradiction to all the known nature of 
things,, if it were held that Paul meant literally to 
say, our Lord was made sin. How inconceivable ! 
"We know that this phrase — the known nature of 
things — is scouted at as wholly unsafe in the work 
of exegesis ; but sm-e are Ave, the thing it represents 
does exist and cannot be dispensed with, neither in 
religion nor in science. We carry it with us, as 
the mariner his compass. We silently appeal to it 
at every step. K the Bible reveals aught beyond 
the sphere of this knowledge, that we accept on 
faith, it is a revelation from God. But we have yet 



XOO INTERPRETATION. 

to discover one instance in which the Bible directly 
contradicts onr knowledge of the nature of things. 
In some instances it transcends our knowledge ; but 
in no instance does it contradict our knowledge. 

Our rule involves a vital principle, which enters 
into all right explanations of the Word of God. 



SIXTH GENERAL RULE. 



When any doctrine elsewhere clearly taught, is 
omitted in any passage, that passage is to be inter- 
preted in harmony with the doctrine omitted. 

The occasional omission of an important doctrine 
in the course of an argument, is easily accounted for 
by a well-known process of the mind. The legal 
maxim expresses it thus, '^it is impossible to think 
of everything, to foresee everything, to express 
everything." The mind will not stop to compress 
every idea connected with the subject into every 
sentence. This is common in all communications 
both oral and written, for an opposite course would 
be intolerable; the sense would be buried under a 
mass of words, enough to baffle all human patience. 
But although a doctrine is thus omitted, it is not 
therefore to be ignored. 

Rom. ix. 16, " So then it is not of him that willeth, 
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth 



GENERAL RULES. " 101 

mercy." Here is no mention of repentance, or of 
faith, or obedience on the part of the sinner. They 
are rather represented as of no account, in the 
matter of salvation. Are we then to interpret the 
apostle as meaning that God has mercy on men 
whether they repent, or not ? By no means. 

1 Tim. ii. 5, " There is one God, and one Mediator 
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." In 
this passage is affirmed the nnity of God, the media- 
torship, and humanity of Christ. But if it be 
quoted to prove Christ is simply a man, we interpose 
the insuperable objection of our rule. The divinity 
of Christ is elsewhere clearly and abundantly taught, 
and the sense of the above passage is to be deter- 
mined accordingly. It teaches the humanity of 
Christ, but it does not disprove his divinity. Just as 
in the sentence, " man is mortal," there is a doctrine 
omitted, and the meaning of the sentence is to be 
decided in harmony therewith. That sentence does 
not disprove the immortality of the soul. Neither 
did Paul intend to deny, in the above passage, the 
supreme divinity of Christ. In the previous parts 
of the epistle, he had affirmed that Christ is God, no 
less than four times. A writer who has done the 
like in speaking of the soul, might well be under- 
stood not to deny its immortality, even though he 
should once or twice use the words, " man is mortal." 



102 ■ INTEKPRETATIOI^. 

But it is a favorite method with some, to select all 
the texts, asserting the humanity of our Lord, and on 
these to build a denial of his divinity. As well 
might we collect from Scripture all those texts which 
assert that man has a body, and on these construct 
the doctrine, that the Bible teaches materialism, or 
that man has no soul. In Eph. v. 23, it is said, 
Christ is " the Saviour of the body." Are we to 
understand that he merely saves the body, and leaves 
the soul to perish? And yet this is the peculiar 
method of many, who reject the testimony of the 
Scriptures concerning Christ ! 

In the exposition of Acts xiii. 48, there has been 
a very grave violation of our present rule. "As 
many as were ordained unto eternal life, believed." 
It is argued from this, that there is no pre-ordaining, 
or election of the individual to eternal life, until the 
moment of his conversion ; that the ordaining and 
believing, are strictly contemporaneous. This is one 
of the dogmas of Arminianism, versus Calvinism ; 
and the question which decides the superiority and 
truth of one of these systems over the other may be 
narrowed down to the one precise interrogation: 
Does the Bible anywhere teach the pre-ordination of 
the believer to eternal life, anterior to the time of 
his new-birth ? Calvinism says, Tes ; Arminianism 
says, No. We then turn to Eph. i. 4-6, and find the 



GEIS-ERAL RrLES. 103 

qnestion solved in favor of Calvinism ; '^ According 
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of 
the world." Unless the force of these words can be 
disproved, or the veracity of the inspired apostle 
impeached, Arminianism, on this point, is left with- 
out a plea. The express declaration of the Bible is 
against it. 

The common interpretations of John iii. 6, afford 
another instance in which the principle of our rule is 
violated. " That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and 
that which is bom of the Spirit, is spirit." These words 
are commonly supposed to teach that all men are 
sinners, because born of sinful parents, sinners with- 
out any thought or action of their own. But the 
first objection to this, is, that it compels us, in respect 
to the second clause, to adopt the sentiment, that 
every converted person is converted by the Spirit, 
without any thought or choice on his part ; a senti- 
ment which is certainly false ; and if this is false, 
the other must be so, for the same reason. But fur- 
ther, although there is no mention in the first clause 
of free agency, or of any of the attributes of man's 
nature, we are not therefore to suppose, that all these 
attributes are denied. Our Lord certainly did not 
mean to deny man's free agency, when he used these 
words ; they are therefore to*be interpreted in con- 
sistency with man's nature; for the facts, man's 



104 INTEKPBETATION. 

nature, his free will, his intelligent mind, and his 
innate conscience, constituting his accountability, 
are interwoven into every page of the Bible. These 
words of our Lord, affirm simply the universal sin- 
fulness of man ; " That which is born of the flesh is 
flesh ;" and the fact, that when man is changed from 
sin to holiness, it is by the agency of the Divine 
Spirit, " That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." 
This is the true limit of their meaning. A writer 
using the words, " All that are born in Arabia, are 
Mahometans," would not mean, surely, that all the 
Arabians are born with the doctrines of Mahomet in 
their minds and hearts by nature ; if he did intend 
to assert any such thing, who would believe him ? 

Neither the above text, nor any other in the Bible, 
means to deny the fact that men sin by the choice 
of their wills ; and if that fact is omitted, it becomes 
us, as fair and honest interpreters, to interpret the 
words of our Lord consistently with the omission. 
He is the wisest and best friend of the Bible, who 
allows it always to speak for itself, and in harmony 
with itself. 

SEVENTH GENERAL EULE. 

No passage is to be interpreted separately from 
the context, nor in such a way as to contradict the 
context. 



GENEKAL RULES. 105 

The primary principle on which this rule is based, 
is the fact that every writer depends on his whole 
communication, and not on any one part of it, to 
convey his meaning. One sentence plucked rudely 
from its place in an argument, it matters not from 
what writer, may thus be made to express a senti- 
ment which the writer deliberately means to con- 
demn ; and yet this is the manner in which many 
have presumed to interpret the Word of God. 

1 Cor. XV. 22 : " For as in Adam all die, so in 
Christ shall all be made alive." From these words 
what contradictory sentiments we have heard as- 
serted ! the salvation of all men, and the legal iden- 
tity of the human race with our first parent. " There 
are the words, deny them if you can ; and if you do, 
you deny the Word of God. Do not all men die ? 
And did not death come by Adam? What then 
does the Apostle say of Christ and salvation ? does 
he not affirm salvation to be as extensive as death?" 
thus reasoned one in behalf of the shallow sentiment 
of universal salvation. " In this text it is affirmed 
that all men die in Adam. But if so, here is the 
legal and moral oneness of Adam and all his off- 
spring. K^ all died in him, then all lived and acted 
in him ; his sin was our sin, his guilt our guilt, his 
death our death ! Adam and his posterity are but 
one person :" thus reasoned one, thinking, no 



106 ESTTEEPEETATION. 

doubt, that Paul had taught these things before him. 
Alas ! for such errors, they are more easily exposed 
than cured. 

By the context we perceive how absurd are these 
perversions. Paul is proving the resurrection of our 
Lord, as a demonstration of the resurrection of all 
men. After citing the testimony of witnesses of our 
Lord's resurrection, he proceeds to an argument dis- 
tinct from that of testimony ; viz., the design of God 
in regard to the matter. He says : " For since by 
man came death, by man also (i.e., so God designed 
it should be), came the resurrection of the dead. 
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all 
be made alive." That is, as death came by Adam, 
so the resurrection from the dead will come by 
Christ ; as in the arrangement of God, man brought 
in death, so, by the same arrangement, man would 
bring in the resurrection. Here is not the faintest 
trace of universal salvation, nor of mankind's moral 
oneness with Adam. The apostle was writing of 
the resurrection ; and to that point he confines him- 
self. His affirmation is that as death came by 
Adam, so life from the dead would come by Christ. 
Such is the precise meaning of his words, neither 
more nor less. 

The same perversion has overtaken Job xiv. 4 : 
" Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? 



GENERAL RULES. 107 

Not one." This is usually made to signify that sin- 
ners beget sinners, that it is impossible for children 
to differ in moral character from their parents, that 
by the mere fact of birth, they are transgressors of 
the law, and heirs of eternal death. If all this was 
really intended by these words, it is strange that it 
should have been expressed so ambiguously. Be- 
sides, if this be the meaning of the words, it cer- 
tainly contradicts Ezek. xviii. 4, as well as the fact 
of our Saviour's birth. 

But a glance at the context will show us the true 
meaning. Job is replying to the charge of his 
friends. They said, he was a self-righteous and 
impenitent man. In answer, he proceeds to confess 
his sinfulness, and asks his Judge : " Dost Thou open 
Thine eyes upon such a one and bringest me into 
judgment with Thee." Then follows the passage in 
question, in answer to the inquiry he had just made : 
"Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? 
Not one." We know it is argued, that he refers to 
the human race in the first verse : " Man that is 
born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble," 
and therefore he refers to the race also, in this verse. 
We deny the conclusion. In this verse, the refer- 
ence is to himself, because it is an answer to the 
question immediately preceding it : " Dost Thou 
open Thine eyes on such an one ?" (fee, and it affirms 



108 INTEEPEETATION-. 

simply his own personal sinfulness. It is as though 
he had placed himself in the presence of his Judge, 
and with deep convictions of his depravity, he had 
said: "Can I pretend, as my friends allege, that I 
am righteous ? I who am a sinner ! No ! "Who, 
that is guilty can be proved innocent ? Can a holy 
person be found, in one that is unholy as I am ?" 
Such is the natural and legitimate force of the lan- 
guage. It is pertinent and true. But the common 
interpretation seems wholly out of place. It involves 
the absurdity that sin is a property of nature, and 
that men cannot be anything but sinners, by the 
very accident and necessity of their birth. All that 
Job intended to say, was that seeing he was a sinful 
man, he could not be regarded in any other light, 
in the presence of his Judge. He was confessing, not 
an accident, nor a constitutional element of universal 
human nature, but the fact tliat he had sinned and 
come short of the glory of God. 

Is there a natural tendency in the mind of man to 
fatalism? or, to the ancient dogma of the Mani- 
cheans, who held sin to be a physical and substan- 
tial principle in man ? 

Let every one, who would interpret the Sacred 
Scriptures correctly, see to it how he studies the 
context, and observes the rule, never to explain 
any text apart from the argument in which it occurs. 



aEJSTERAL RULES. ' 109 

EIGHTH GENERAL RULE. 

No interpretation is correct, if it run opposite to 
the general design of the writer. 

This rnle gives a wider application to the last, and 
its necessity is seen in two respects ; first, the imme- 
diate context may not always clearly show the 
design of the writer ; second, the general design of 
a writer, to a very great extent, controls his meaning. 
On the latter point, it may be useful to consider the 
words of John Locke: "I saw clearly," says he, 
"after I began to reflect upon it, that if any one 
should now write a letter to me, as long as St. Paul's 
epistle to the Romans, concerning such a matter as 
that is, in a style as foreign and expressions as 
dubious as this seems to be, if I should divide it 
into fifteen or sixteen chapters, and read one of them 
to-day, and another to-morrow, it was ten to one that 
I should never come to a full and clear comprehen- 
sion of it. The way to understand the mind of him 
who wrote it, every one would agree, would be to 
read the whole letter through from one end to the 
other, all at once, to see what was the main subject 
and tendency of it ; or if it had several parts and 
purposes in it, not dej)endent one of another, to dis- 
cover what these different matters were, and where 
the author concluded one and began another." 



110 . INTERPEETATIOlSr. 

Thus cautionsly and patiently wonld Locke pro- 
ceed in ascertaining the main design of a writer, as 
an essential preliminary to the understanding of his 
meaning. O, that all interpreters of the Scriptures 
had his modesty ! 

For illustration of our rule we take Eom. v. 14, 
" Nevertheless death reigned, from Adam to Moses, 
even over those that had not sinned after the simili- 
tude of Adam's transgression." Some maintain that 
Paul refers here to infants dying before they sin. 
But this does not agree at all with the design of his 
general argumen|, and for that reason, it cannot be 
his meaning. 

He is comparing the effects of sin through Adam, 
with the effects of grace through Christ, and this 
comparison occurs in a very extended argument, 
based upon the fact that all men have sinned, his 
main design being to prove that all men needed the 
salvation offered by Christ, on account of their hav- 
ing sinned. He admits that where no law is there 
is no transgression, and by fair inference no need of 
any salvation. But says an objector, "There was 
no law from Adam to Moses for two thousand years 
and more, hence there could be no sin, and no need 
of salvation, and therefore your main position, that 
all men need salvation, is disproved." It is in Paul's 
reply to this objection, that the passage above 



GENERAL EULES. Ill 

referred to occurs. He asserts there was sin from 
Adam to Moses, and tlie proof of the fact was that 
death reigned over men all that time. He appeals to 
the universality of death to prove that they all had 
sinned and were in need of salvation ; this was what 
his argument required. It would not have served 
his purpose to have asserted the fact of death and 
the need of salvation on the part of infants from 
Adam to Moses. During that time, death reigned 
over all, both old and young ; and the apostle main- 
tains that all were in need of salvation, because all 
had sinned. Therefore he does not mean infants, 
but all men living from Adam to Moses, without 
respect to age ; for they were all under the govern- 
ment of God, and subject to his law, though they 
had no oral law such as Adam^had. 

Jas. ii. 14, " Ye see then how that by works a man 
is justified, and not by faith only." This is another 
passage affording an illustration of our rule, and it 
has a history both curious and instructive. 

Luther, it is well known, after a season of deep 
mental excitement and distress, at length found 
peace in the doctrine of justification by faith in 
Christ. This doctrine very naturally became the 
joy of his heart. He knew no language too strong 
in which to state and defend it. Conceive his alarm 
when he read these words in James ! They seemed 



112 INTEEPRETATION. 

to contradict not only his whole experience, but the 
entire Gospel also. There were the words, and how 
were they to be explained? His enemies could 
quote them in triumph, to sustain their doctrine of 
good works; and what could he say in reply? 
Without seeking to explain their true meaning by 
an appeal to the evident design of the apostle, he 
rushed upon the extreme measure, never thought of 
before, of denying the inspiration of James' epistle, 
and refusing it a place in the Bible. This was dis- 
posing of the difficulty at too dear a rate, and though 
it embarrassed the reformation exceedingly, he 
maintained his opinion almost to the day of his 
death. 

On the other hand, Luther's enemies in the Council 
of Trent were no wiser than he. They took this 
same passage to confute the Reformation ; and they 
based on it^- the following doctrine and anathema : 
"Whosoever shall affirm that the righteous ought 
not to expect and hope for everlasting life from 
God for their good works, let him be accursed. 
Whosoever shall affirm that the good works of a 
justified man are, in such sense, the gifts of God, 
that they are not his worthy merits, and that he 
really does not deserve increase of grace and eternal 
life, let him be accursed." Acts. Sess. IV. 

There never was a more manifest error on both 



GENERAL RULES. 113 

sides. Both equally failed to discover the design of 
the apostle in the argument where the passage 
occiu's. As the most passing glance will show, his 
object was to warn converted Jews of the danger of 
trusting to their mere professions of faith. He would 
have them understand, that obedience went along 
with faith ; and that the man who was satisfied with 
merely saying he believed, to the neglect of holy 
living, was like a body without a spirit. In all this 
James has no reference to the question, on what 
ground is a man justified? It was Paul's design to 
answer that question. James had another point, 
wholly distinct, before his thoughts. He meant to 
enforce practical piety, and maintained that a man, 
who said he had faith in Christ, and lived the mean- 
while in sin, was a dead man ; his professed faith 
would not save him; not because sinners are not 
saved by faith, but because his alleged faith, unac- 
companied with obedience, was no faith at all. In 
this sense the above passage is to be understood; 
and so understood, it does not contradict, it confirms 
the doctrine of Paul. 

By our rule we are enabled to interpret correctly 
the 7th Chapter of the Eomans, respecting which 
there has been such interminable contention. It 
turns wholly upon the general design of the writer. 
That design undoubtedly was to show the effect of 



114 tNTEEPEETATION. 

the law upon the hnman heart, and not specifically 
npon the converted heart. Hence he is led, as a 
matter of course, to speak of the heart of man and 
its workings, simply as such. He, therefore, uses 
language which applies both to the believer and the 
unbeliever, and to neither exclusively. This is the 
true key to the sense of the chapter. 

Our rule also most satisfactorily explains that 
much controverted passage, 1 Cor. xv. 29, " Else 
what shall they do who are baptized for the dead.'^ 
The apostle's object is to establish the doctrine of the 
resurrection. This verse contains one of his argu- 
ments; an argument ex concessis, from the conces- 
sions of those to whom he was writing. They 
believed in, and practised, the ordinance of baptism ; 
and baptism was administered on the ground of the 
truth that there was a resurrection. Hence the 
apostle's question: "What shall they do who are 
baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not?" Or, 
what will they do in reference to the doctrine of the 
resurrection, who are baptized in the belief of it? 
Will they repudiate their own belief, and renounce 
their baptism? The phrase " for the dead," is used 
simply for another — " for the resurrection," the main 
word in the argument. Thus viewed, there is no 
obscurity in the passage, and the verse succeeding is 
an argument precisely of a like nature : " And why 



GENERAL RULES. 115 

stand we in jeopardy every hour;" i. e.j if there be 
no resurrection. 

So also in respect to Heb. vii. 1-3, where Christ 
is said to be " without father, without mother," &c. 
Paul's main design in this chapter is to assert the priest- 
hood of Christ according to the prophecy of the 110th 
Psalm. He admits he was not a priest after the order 
of Levi ; but after the order of Melchizedek ; and con- 
sequently he had no genealogy from Levi ; he was 
of the tribe of Judah ; neither his reputed father, 
nor mother, were numbered among the Levites ; 
there was no specified age at which he was to enter 
upon his priesthood ; and none at which he was to 
lay down his office, as was the custom in the order 
of Levi. Christ was a priest forever after the 
order of the King of Salem, the venerable Mel- 
chizedek. 

1 Pet. iii. 18-20 is explained also by the prin- 
ciple of our present rule. It is not necessary that 
we should descend any further to particulars. To 
seize the general design of the writer, is one of 
the most sure and satisfactory methods of ascertain- 
ing his meaning; and no interpretation is correct 
which runs opposite thereto. 



116 INTERPRETATION. 



NINTH GENERAL RULE. 



Of one or more possible senses, whicli a text may 
reasonably bear, that is to be preferred which best 
agrees with the design of the writer and the general 
harmony of the faith. 

This rule provides for a case which not nnfre- 
qnently occurs, where the words of a passage may 
fairly have two slightly different shades of meaning. 
In such a case that sense is to be taken which best 
agrees with the main design of the argument and 
the general harmony of all inspired truth. 

Thus in respect to the clause " and their works do 
follow them," Rev. xiv. 13. If the meaning should 
be held to be, that the works of the pious dead fol- 
low them to eternity as the ground of their accept- 
ance and happiness there, and for aught that appears 
in the language, such might be the meaning, we 
must then fall back on the bearing which such a 
sense would have on other doctrines of the Christian 
faith, and on the question, does such a sentiment 
agree with the design of the writer ? A sentiment 
drawn from any passage, or a meaning ascribed to 
any passage, must not only be reasonably contained 
therein ; it must be essentially true in itself, and in 
that case it will agree with the design of the writer 
and with the analogy of the faith. But the above 



GENERAL RULES. 117 

Bentiment is not avowed by any sacred writer, and it 
is directly opposed to the doctrine of salvation by 
the merits of Jesus Christ. Hence it is not the 
meaning of the above words. The works of the 
righteous do indeed follow them into eternity and 
undergo the scrutiny of omniscience there, and 
receive the approbation of God; but it is not for 
these good works that they are saved. They are 
saved by grace, through faith ; and that not in view 
of what they have done ; their salvation is the gift 
of God, and not of works, lest they should boast. 

Mat. xvi. 18, " And I say unto thee, that thou art 
Peter ; and upon this rock I will build my Church, 
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." 
There are, at least three distinct shades of meaning, 
which these words may reasonably bear. (1) Upon 
such confessions as this, that thou hast made of my 
Messiahship, I will build my Church; or (2) upon 
this truth that I am the Messiah, I will build my 
Church ; or (3) by means of thee, Peter, a man of 
firm and resolute will, will I lay the foundation of 
the Church, as a distinct community in the world. 
The two first are both consistent with all Scriptural 
doctrines, and many considerations may be urged in 
their favor. But the last is in harmony with actual 
historical facts, recorded in Acts ii. 14-36, and chapter 
10th, where, by Peter's instrumentality, the Church, 



118 * IKTERPEETATIOlSr. 

composed both of Jews and Gentiles, was established 
as a distinct body in the world. And such an 
announcement from tbe lips of our Lord, in tbe cir- 
€nmstanceS5 was both appropriate and significant. 
It was just such an announcement as he was wont to 
make frequently of what the disciples were to endure 
and accomplish ; and we therefore prefer this last 
meaning. .The words of our Lord, when recalled by 
Peter, in the times of stern conflict, through which 
he passed, would administer an unspeakable solace, 
not only to Peter's heart, but to the hearts of all the 
disciples. But there is not one syllable in this text, 
to justify the wild, foolish, and wicked pretences of 
Popish supremacy. "What has the modern Babylon, 
the oppressor of God's people, the exterminator of 
the Gospel, to do with these words, spoken by Him,, 
whom that city of abominations loves to crucify 
afresh? 

James v. 20, " He that converteth the sinner from 
the error of his ways, shall save a soul from death, 
and shall hide a multitude of sins." There are two 
distinct shades of meaning, which this text will bear. 
(1) Tlie soul saved, and the multitude of sins that 
are hid, may refer to the person who reclaims his 
erring brother, or (2) they may refer to the brother 
reclaimed. If then we adopt the first, the sentiment 
of the apostle would be, that he, who reclaimed a 



GENEEAL RULES. 119 

brother from sin, would save thereby his own soul, 
and hide the multitude of his own sins. Is this his 
meaning? As our rule directs, we must consider 
the design of the writer, and the harmony of the 
sentiment, with the general system of truth. With 
respect to the first, it does not appear that the 
writer meant to say — ^if a Christian reclaims his 
erring brother, he would save his own soul, and hide 
his own sins. The impression we receive is, that his 
language refers to the person who is reclaimed ; and 
that he holds it out as a motive to action, in the work 
of reclaiming him. As respects the harmony of the 
sentiment, with the analogy of the faith, there is no 
doubt it is wholly at variance with it. We are 
saved by faith in Christ, not by acts of kindness done 
to erring brethren. Hence, we conclude, the mean- 
ing of the passage is, he who reclaims a backslider 
is the means of saving the backslider's soul, and of 
hiding his sins. This is consistent with the design 
of the writer, and with the general harmony of the 
faith. 

TENTH GENERAL RULE. 

ISTo interpretation is correct, which violates the 
grammar, or the idioms of the language in which 
the Scriptures were at first written. 



120 INTEEPRETATIOK. 

All translations of the Bible are liable to mislead 
us, in respect both to the gramnaar, and the idioms 
of the original language in which it was com- 
posed. The English translation, although beyond all 
question, the most perfect translation ever made, is 
not free from errors of this description; some, perhaps, 
unavoidable, others, the effect of a faulty interpreta- 
tion ; for every translator is of necessity, an interpre- 
ter, in a very high and important sense. 

An illustration of the application of our rule is 
found in Dan. iii. 25. There the King of Babylon 
is made to say : " The fourth is like the Son of God." 
But this is not justified by the original. The Hebrew 
noun for " son," is without the article ; and the sen- 
tence should therefore read : " The fourth is like a 
son of God," or, is like a divine being. Often do 
readers of the English Bible wonder how the hea- 
then king of Babylon could have had any know- 
ledge of the Son of God, so as to identify his 
appearance in the fiery furnace ; but the fact is, he 
had no such knowledge ; and his language properly 
rendered, conveys simply the idea, that the person 
whom he saw, was in his judgment a divine being, 
and not a man like the other three. 

Another passage which our rule enables us rightly 
to interpret, is Eph. ii. 8, " By grace are ye saved, 
through faith ; and that not of yourselves, it is the 



• GENERAL RULES. 121 

gift of God." It has been contended that Paul here 
meant to say, faith is the gift of God, and in such a 
sense too, that it is not the act of the believer at all. 
But the original Greek forbids such an interpreta- 
tion. For Paul uses a pronoun in the neuter gender, 
when he says, " it is the gift ;" whereas, had he 
intended to refer to '' faith," he must have used a 
pronoun in the feminine gender, to agree with it. 
His meaning, as seen by the original, is, that salva- 
tion by grace, is the gift of God. 

Eom. viii. 7 : " The carnal mind is enmity against 
God." These words are often used, in the sense that 
the powers and faculties wherewith men are en- 
dowed, the very constituents of the mind itself, are 
depraved and sinful, apart from their actions. Those 
who insist on this sense, are in need of it, to sustain 
a certain theory; and Scripture was competent to 
have asserted the doctrine, had it been true. But it 
is not here that this assertion is made. The original 
is : " the minding, or pursuit of carnal things " is 
enmity against God ; the proper Greek word for 
" mind " is not in the sentence. Hence it is not the 
mind itself that is enmity against God, but the pur- 
suits, desires, and works of the mind. 

The Douay translation has violated, in a great 
number of instances, the original language of the 
Bible. Thus, in Exod. xxxiv. 29, it says : " Moses 

6 



122 ESTTERPRETATION. 

knew not that his face was horned from the conver- 
sation of the Lord." This hidicrous mistake is 
copied from the Yulgate, the author of which did 
not, or conld not, distinguish between the Hebrew 
word for horn, " Keren," and the word " Karan," he 
shone. Also in Heb. xi. 21, there is a very gross 
violation of the original. It is a marvel that learned 
men, such as many of the Romanists are, should 
ever have suffered such a willful perversion of the 
Scriptm^es to go out into the world. The Greek is 
^ETTC TO dupov rrjg pdj3dov avrov — " upon the top of his 
staff;" being an old man, Jacob worshipped, as he 
blessed the sons of Joseph, on the top of his staff. 
He did not bow himself to the ground, as the usual 
custom was. The Douay translation has it : " ITe 
adored the top of his rod P^ 

Under this rule falls Acts iii. 19, 20. The fault 
with the translation consists in its making the apostle 
say what plainly does not harmonize with his design. 
He is preaching immediate repentance, and of course 
gives reasons for the duty. The particles biTG)g dv 
should have been translated, "since," or "seeing 
that," as the design of the argument clearly demands. 
"Repent — since, the times of refreshing are come 
from the presence of God, and since he has sent 
Jesus," &c. ; this was the meaning of the apostle 
in his preaching, without any doubt. 



GENERAL RULES. 123 

Ps. X. 3 : " For tlie wicked boasteth of his heart's 
desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord 
abhorreth." Here is another instance where our 
rule holds ; for there is no authority for the word 
" whom " in the original. It is " He abhors the 
Lord," and is another item in the character of the 
wicked man. 

Acts xii. 4 : ^' Intending after Easter to bring him 
forth," is a translation for which there is positively 
no apology. None of the apostles ever heard of 
" Easter." The word in Greek is " Passover." 

Acts ii. 27 : " Because thou wilt not leave my 
Boul in Hell ;" the use of the word " Hell," in this 
instance, conveys more than the original. With us, 
it means the world of torment, as opposed to Heaven ; 
but the Greeks had a word which signified simply 
the world of spirits, as opposed to this world, a word 
which did not convey the idea of misery or of hap- 
piness with it. It is the word Hades ; and this is the 
word used in the original of this passage. It should 
have been : "Because thou wilt not leave my soul 
in the state of the dead, or in the world of spirits." 
Not that there is no place, revealed in Scripture, 
such as our word Hell properly designates ; but that 
in this instance our translators made use of too 
strong a word for the original. 

The importance of our rule may be seen, if in 



124 mXERPRETATION. 

nothing else, in the value of a thorongli knowledge 
of the languages, in which the Scriptures were at 
first composed. All honest interpreters will give it 
its due share of importance. Those who have not 
such a knowledge of the original languages, may be 
expected to speak with modesty respecting the 
meaning of passages, whose sense is either doubtful, 
or obscure. 

ELEVENTH GENERAL RULE. 

Comparisons drawn from the social or material 
world, for the purpose of illustration, are not to be 
interpreted, as applying in every particular to the 
subject which they are intended to exj)lain ; nor is 
any doctrine to be founded on such comparisons. 

The philosophy of this rule enters into all sound 
interpretation, and is more extensively connected 
with the true understanding of the Scriptures, than 
any other principle in this whole science. It lies in 
the fact that the world of matter, from which com- 
parisons are taken, is so immeasurably removed in 
nature, from the world of spirit, that the two never 
can be blended into one. Matter is not Mind ; and 
though the laws by which matter is governed may 
illustrate the certainty and force, with which the 
laws of mind operate, yet these laws are not identi- 



GENERAL RULES. 125 

cal and never can be. They are as diverse as the 
things themselves out of which they spring, or to 
govern which they are enacted by sovereign wis- 
dom. A wicked man, for example, may love his 
sins, as invariably as the stone unsupported falls to 
the earth ; and the strength of his love for his sins, 
may not inaptly be compared to that law which 
always brings the stone to the ground. But there 
is a vast difference between the powers of a wicked 
man to abstain from, or repent of his sins, and the 
powers of a stone to remain unsupported in the air. 
The difference is so vast, there neither is, nor can be 
any proper comparison in the case ; it is the differ- 
ence between a power wholly competent to follow its 
own choice, and a power competent only of acting 
in one way and without choice, without the possi- 
bility of ever moving in any other direction than 
that in which it is moved. The laws of mind, and the 
laws of matter are thus infinitely and eternally distinct. 
The Bible written for the whole world, in a style 
peculiar and intelligible to the whole world, em- 
ploys comparisons with great frequency, and in all 
their various forms. Hence the importance of look- 
ing well to our principles of exegesis, in all cases 
where these comparisons occur ; and especially 
where they are employed to illustrate states of mind 
or of moral character in man. 



126 INTERPRETATION. 

Eom. ix. 21 : " Hath not God power over the clay 
of the same lump, to make one vessel unto honor, 
and another unto dishonor." If this text should be 
interpreted so as to mean, that, as the potter makes 
one vessel for this purpose, and another for that, so 
God creates one man, and destines him for heaven, 
and another, and destines him for hell, precisely and 
absolutely on the same principles as the potter his 
vessels, we would solemnly protest against it. The 
comparison is not to be carried to the unreasonable 
length of saying that man is purely a piece of clay 
in the hands of his Creator. To make it apply in 
every respect to the subject which it illustrates, 
would destroy the eternal distinctions between mind 
and matter, and between the moral law, and the 
laws of brute force, by which the material world is 
governed. 

Eph. ii. 1 : " And you hath he quickened, who 
were dead in tresspasses and sins." This is the lan- 
guage of comparison, and the comparison is between 
those who had been unconverted sinners, and the 
dead ; and some have carried it so far, as to affirm 
the meaning of the apostle to be, that the uncon- 
verted can no more repent, nor believe, nor think a 
good thought of themselves, than a dead person^ 
nailed up in his coffin, can of himself rise to life ; 
that the entire want of power is as real in the 



GE:NnERAL RULES. . 127 

one case as in the other, and that Paul meant in 
this language to say so. 

But how immeasurably does this fall short of the 
apostle's meaning ! He tells plainly what he meant 
by being " dead in sin." It was not the absence of 
all power to do good, in men, that he thought of 
affirming; it was simply the fact that while they 
were unconverted, they had been insensible to the 
duties of religion ; in this lay the similarity of their 
moral character, to the condition of the dead. He 
says, '' In time past, they had walked according to 
the course of this world, fulfilling the desires of the 
flesh." Here was their ability to do evil affirmed ; 
and the power to do good is implied in the same 
terms. Comparisons are not to be pressed beyond 
the nature of things. They are points of likeness, 
wherein one thing partially resembles another, and 
nothing more. ISTo writer ever uses them as inde- 
pendent proofs of his doctrine. Indeed, all moral 
truth stands on its own basis, not needing any other. 
The truth, that an unconverted man is uninfluenced 
by the law of God, so as not to be governed by it, 
as truly as a dead man is uninfluenced by the things 
of this world, rests for its proof, not on any point of 
similarity between his condition and that of a dead 
man, but on the fact that he is led away by his sins, so 
as to disregard the law of God altogether. This state of 



128 INTEEPEETATION. 

mind is spiritual death ] i, e,^ it is a state of hardness 
and insensibility, in which the soul takes no pleasure 
in the will of God ; and out of this state every con- 
verted man is quickened by the Spirit of God, 
at his new birth. Such is the meaning of the 
apostle. 

Jer. xiii. 23, " Can the Ethiopian change his skin, 
or the leopard his spots ? then may ye also do good 
that are accustomed to do evil." Here there is a 
comparison strictly of the same nature as the last. 
It lies between the Ethiopian's power to change his 
color, or that of the leopard to change his spots, and the 
power of a man accustomed to do evil, to change his 
habit of sin, and do good. But we would greatly err 
were we to insist on a perfect and absolute similarity 
in all respects in the two cases. The difficulty in the 
way of a sinner is the force of a long-cherished 
habit ; that in the way of the African and the leopard, 
is a natural impossibility, arising from a law beyond 
their control. Will any sane man say, these two 
things are in every sense the same ? 

MEMOEANDUM. 

It is under this rule touching comparisons, that 
we place the explanation of a certain large class of 
words, descriptive of man's character, and the states 



GENERAL KULES. 129 

of his heart, in view of the moral law. Some of 
these words are the following : dbortiinahle^ adulter- 
ous^ lacksliding^ hlind^ corrxijpt^ carnal^ crooked^ 
defiled^ dead^ earthy^ evil^fcdlen^ feeble^ filthy^ fleshly^ 
fleshy hardened^ iniquity^ lusts^ natural^ nctked^ 
jpolluted^ sinful^ transgressing^ unclean^ ungodly^ 
wicked. 

The words depraved,^ dspravity^ are not used in 
the Scriptures, are of a Latin origin, and fall under 
the same law as the above. 

First as adjectives, then as nouns, or names of the 
states described by the adjectives, these words, when 
applied to human conduct and character, always 
imply a comparison, expressed or understood. Thus 
in reference, for instance, to the word " corrupt," we 
say, the heart of man is corrupt; but we do not 
mean that the heart is literally corrupt, like a carcass 
in a state of decay or putrefaction. In such a case, 
such a meaning would simply be absurd. All these 
words applied to man's heart and its affections imply 
a comparison, which, in respect to the word corrupt, 
may be expressed thus: as a material body, in a 
state of decay, is offensive, and fit only to be removed 
from our presence ; so, a human heart, that loves to 
sin, and sets its affections on things prohibited, is 
offensive to God, and fit only to be removed out of 
His sight. In all this we do not refer to the facul- 



130 INTEEPKETATION. 

ties, or heart of man as snch ; but to his voluntary 
conduct, as a moral being in yiew of the moral law. 
The oifensiveness and corruption which attaches to 
his heart is his voluntary choice of sin, his willful 
disobedience of the law of God. Whenever the 
heart of man is thus set on sin, such is human lan- 
guage, that, in describing the fact, we are under a 
necessity of employing a class of words, which, in 
their primary signification, describe physical or 
material states ; and hence arises the implied com- 
parison of which we have spoken. Never must this 
fact be forgotton ; nor do we know of a more preg- 
nant and necessary caution to urge on all who inter- 
pret the Word of God. 

In Gen. vi. 11, it is said, "The earth also was 
corrupt before God." This does not mean that men's 
faculties of mind and heart were in themselves bad ; 
for the faculties of the soul, as such, are neither 
good nor bad ; there is no moral standard for them. 
The only standard of goodness and badness in the 
universe, is the moral law, and that has respect, not 
to faculties in themselves, but to the exercise of 
faculties ; to actions, only. It is the voluntary em- 
ployment of man's faculties against God which con- 
stitutes the corruption^ pollution^ depravity^ sinful- 
ness^ vilenesSy and uncleanness of his heart. K he 
never sinned by breaking the law, he would never 



GENEEAL EULES. 131 

sin at all. So that when the words above quoted 
are applied to his character, it is not in a direct and 
primary sense, but implying merely a comparison, 
as above described, to material objects ; and the 
words must be interpreted accordingly. 

The word '^ natural " is used just once in the Bible, 
to describe character in man ; 1 Cor. ii. 14 ; and a 
very common error is to suppose that it means man 
simply as a creature ; whereas it means man as fol- 
lowing his own chosen ways — man freely doing 
wrong, and unwilling to subject himself to the will 
of God. Hence, a "natural man," in the. sense of 
Scripture, is simply a sinning man, an active agent, 
resisting the will of God, and not a creature passively 
existing, with sin in it, as one of its created ele- 
ments. The comparison implied in this word, may 
be thus expressed: as nature is distinct from its 
author, having accidents and properties of its own, 
separate from those of its creator ; so a natm^al man, 
in Scripture language, is a man who follows his own 
will as a rule of conduct; aims at his own ends, 
separate from those enjoined on him by his Creator — 
" he receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God." 
"We know of no single word which is so much 
abused in reference to human conduct, as this. 

The above law applies to the opposite class of 
words, also; words describing good character in 



1 32 mTEEPEETATION. 

man : e. g. alive^ clean^ Tioly^ godly ^ pure^ righteous^ 
sanctified^ steadfast^ sjpiritual^ straight^ strong^ &c. 
In all these there is a reference to some physical 
state, forming the point of comparison, between that 
state, and the state of the heart as compared with 
the divine law, the standard of right and wrong. If 
this fact be not constantly recognized, our interpre- 
tations cannot be according to truth, nor according 
to the mind of the Spirit. 

The same law of interpretation holds true, of all 
those • verbs which describe the influence of one 
moral being over another. Thus it is said, God 
" hardened Pharaoh's heart," and " the heart of His 
people, Israel ;" and of several kings it is said, they 
" made Israel to sin," and " polluted the land." In 
Eom. 5 19, Paul has these words : " For as by one 
man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by 
the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." 
One principle governs, in all such forms of expres- 
sion. God did not harden Pharaoh's heart, as men 
harden iron or steel, by heating it red hot, and then 
plunging it into cold water. God used various expe- 
dients, to secm-e the consent of Pharaoh to his 
reasonable requirements. Pharaoh resisted all these 
expedients, and hardened his heart against God, and 
grew from time to time more determined in his pur- 
pose not to let Israel go. But now for the point of 



GENERAL RULES. 133 

comparison ; as, by certain means iron is hardened, 
so by the means made use of to gain the consent of 
Pharaoh, his heart was rendered only more resolute 
in refusing ; and thus it was hardened, by the force 
of his own will. 

So of polluting the land, and making Israel to sin. 
Here the making to sin, is not the effect of physical 
power, as when a founder, out of ore makes iron, or 
a shipbuilder, out of timber makes a ship, or a 
potter, out of clay makes, vessels, some to honor, and 
some to dishonor. In these cases, the making is the 
result of physical force on material objects. But 
man is not a material object, and he cannot be made 
a sinner in any such way, nor by any such means. 
So that when the language is used of him, it is used 
by way of comparison, or analogy only. Many — 
all — were made sinners by the disobedience of 
Adam ; many were made sinners by the kings of 
Israel, building altars, and setting up idols in the 
groves, and the land was polluted by them ; 
Mahomet made many Mahometans ; Confucius made 
many idolators, and the Pope of Pome, many apos- 
tates from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But how 
made them ? by the voluntary choice, the free con- 
sent, and unimpaired freedom of their own wills. 
This last item, is for evermore to be kept in mind, as 
a grand decision, and infallible, of common sense, to 



1 34 INTEEPRETATION. 

influence all onr interpretations of all sucli language 
as the above, in the Word of God. To introduce 
any other principles into our expositions of the 
Scriptures, is to pervert all common sense, and put 
into the mouths of infidels, objections to the whole 
subject of inspiration and religion, which it is utterly 
impossible for us to remove. 

THE PABABLES. 

The Parables, one of the most instructive depart- 
ments of Scripture, come under the above law of 
interpretation. Their chief object being to illustrate 
the fundamental and practical doctrines of religion, 
errorists have made the most strenuous efforts to per- 
vert them. Even professed friends of religion, have 
not not been free from the guilt of turning the Para- 
bles wholly aside from their proper object. The 
early, as well as the later Fathers, are replete with 
such perversions. We give only one instance of a 
modern errorist, showing the inherent folly of such 
men, and the miserable foundations on which they 
build their opinions. It is in reference to ther Para- 
ble of the rich man, and Lazarus. -Recording to this 
interpreter, whose name we mention not, the rich 
man means, "the high priest under the law;" the 
beggar means, " the Gentiles ;" the beggar's death 



GENERAL EULES. 135 

means, " the close of the Levitical dispensation ;" the 
lifting np of the rich man's eyes in hell, means, " a 
conviction of the condemning power of the law ;" his 
desire to have his brethren warned, is, " the desire of 
Gentile converts, to carry the Gospel to apostate 
Jews;" the gnlph is, "the time appointed for the 
blindness of Israel ;" the five brethren are, " that 
part of Israel, broken off through unbelief!" What 
can mortal man say of such absm-dities ? • 

An elaborate treatise on the Parables has been 
published by Prof. Trench, a name of some power 
in literature. But even he is not free from the 
errors so palpable in the above abstract, and it is 
the great error into which so many fall, when inter- 
preting these interesting compositions. Thus he 
makes the parable of the good Samaritan teach the 
mission and example of Christ ; the traveller is 
" human nature, or, Adam, the head of the race," 
who leaves the heavenly city and falls into the 
power of Satan, and is all but killed. Christ now 
finds him and restores him. The wine is the blood 
which Christ shed ; and the oil is th* anointing of the 
Holy Spirit ! the binding up is the sacraments of 
the Church ! This is a link of " the chains ;" for he 
quotes largely from the early Fathers, and is carried 
away on the flowery stream of their rhetoric with 
great pleasure. He objects to the maxim : " every 



136 INTERPRETATION. 

comparison must halt somewhere ;" but his objec- 
tion is merely the word, why ? The answer is very 
obvious ; because in the very nature of things, spirit 
and matter, between which the comparison is made, 
are not identical, and never can be in all respects 
alike. 

Besides all such perversions of the Parables are in 
face of the fact, that the design of the Parable is 
usually specified ; so that we have no alternative, 
but to take it as an illustration of the particular 
topic which it was designed to enforce. Indeed, 
everything depends on our seizing the design of the 
Parable. "We have no authority to say it was meant 
for any other purpose than that intended by its 
Author. And here it is no small consolation to 
reflect, that the great mass of plain people, who 
receive the Bible as the Word of God, find but little 
difficulty in comprehending the precise point aimed 
at in these Scriptures. The common mind is not 
inferior in this respect to the educated mind ; for the 
reason that the peculiar language of the Parable is 
actually more familiar in the humbler walks of life, 
than in the halls of learning ; the cottage resounds 
more frequently than the college, with the bold and 
striking comparison, with the Parable and its clear, 
shining sense, understood by all, not excepting the 
children. Hence it is not among common readers 



GENERAL RULES. 137 

of the Bible that the Parables are so frequently per- 
verted ; it is among those who must make every- 
thing out of the Parables that they can, for their 
own purposes. 

"With the general rule given above, we must pro- 
ceed only on such principles as apply to the inter- 
pretation of Scripture in general ; taking heed not to 
found any doctrine on the Parables, as its ultimate 
ground. Not that the I^arable is without its doctrine ; 
but that the Parable is in no case the first revelation, 
or statement of a doctrine ; it is merely the illustra- 
tion of a doctrine ; a doctrine put in drapery, and 
the drapery is not intended to be used for any other 
purpose. 

It is a violation of this common sense principle, 
that leads some to find in the Parable of the fig tree, 
Matt. xxiv. 32-4, the restoration of the Jews as a 
nation to Palestine ! see Cummings on " The End.'' 
And this is one of the most unfounded errors into 
which men fall in reference to the interpretation of 
the Parables. 



THE TYPES OF SCEIPTTJEE. 

We cannot allow the opportunity to pass without 
saying in reference to what are called " Types," that 
we have no sympathy whatever with those who are 



1 38 INTERPRETATION. 

SO zealons in finding types in the Old Testament, 
corresponding to all persons, things, and places in 
the New. It is a principle not to be violated, that 
we are not to find any types, but those which the 
Bible itself has specified. Yet we are told by grave 
interpreters that Adam, JSToah, Joseph, Moses, 
Joshua, David, and others, were all and severally 
types of our Lord ; that the wanderings of Israel 
were types of the experience of the Church, &c. 
But this is wholly without any Scriptural authority, 
and is not to be countenanced. The example of 
Paul in Galatians iv., is no excuse for such fanciful 
notions ; for there he simply takes a passage of his- 
tory to illustrate his point ; and this all may do, for 
the like reason, that it is a very instructive mode of 
impressing the truth on the mind. But Paul does 
not say, that any part of the history to which he 
refers, was designed to be a type of what he was 
inculcating. This is the error of which we complain 
as wholly unauthorized. There are types in Scrip- 
ture ; but we are not to add to them ; neither are 
w^e to press them beyond reason. They are in 
nature parables, and come under the same exegetical 
laws. Their use is accounted for by the temporary 
and introductory nature of the first dispensation, in 
which God wisely prepared the way, in the minds 
of His people, for the full and more glorious mani- 



GENERAL KULES. 139 

festation of Himself and His truth in the perfect 
economy of the Gospel. Let it be a law, therefore, 
not to regard anything in Scripture as a type of 
another, except those things which the Bible has 
declared such. . 



THE POETRY OF THE BIBLE. 

The interpretation of the poetry of the Scriptures 
is- largely to be placed under the same principles as 
the Parables ; for the good reason that comparisons, 
or figures taken from the material world, constitute 
the great staple of poetry. The usual license, or 
intensity of expression also, common to poetry, of 
itself requires great allowance, in order to secure 
correct exegesis. This intensity of language consti- 
tutes one of the gravest diflBculties in the way of the 
translator, who finds it peculiarly perplexing in the 
poetical portions of Scripture ; and hence it cannot 
but prove a very serious obstacle in the way of the 
interpreter. The greater the need of caution. The 
letter must not be pressed, especially it must not be 
pressed, in reference to doctrinal statements, when 
they occur in these compositions. And it is just in 
reference to this very point that interpreters are 
most singularly at fault. 

A few passages eminently requiriag caution we 
here quote : 



140 INTERPRETATION. 

Ps, Iviii. 3-5. The wicked are estranged from the womb ; 

They go astray as soon as born, speaking lies ; 
Their poison is like the poison of a serpent ; 
They are like the deaf adder, that stoppeth her 

ear, 
That will not listen to the voice of charmers, 
Charm they never so wisely. 
Ps. xxii. 9. Thou art he that took me out of the womb; 

Thou didst make me hope, on my mother's 
breasts. 
Ps. li. 5, 7. Behold I was shapen in iniquity, 

And in sin did my mother conceiv'fe me. 
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean ; 
"Wasji me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 
Job xxxi. 19. For from my youth, he was brought up with me, 
As with a Father ; 

And I have guided the widow from my mother's 
womb, 
xiv, 3, 4. And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an 
one, 
And bringest me into judgment with thee ? 
Who can bring a clean thing 
Out of an unclean ? ]N'ot one ! 
XV. 14. What is man, that he should be clean ? 

And he born of woman, that he should be 
righteous ? 
xvii. 14. I have said to corruption, thou art my Father, 

To the worm, thou art my mother, and my sister. 
Kom. iii. 12. They are all gone out of the way ; 

They are together become unprofitable ; 
There is none good, no not one. 
Their throat is an open sepulchre ; 



GENERAL RULES. 141 

With their tongue they have used deceit; 
The poison of asps is under their lips. 

Sncli qnotations might be greatly multiplied, but 
we intentionally limit ourselves to these, as a speci- 
men of one class of texts, most strangely and widely 
perverted. They are made the proof texts respect- 
ing man's character, without any allowance for the 
nature of the composition, or of the subject matter 
of which they treat ; the naked letter is insisted on, 
as though everything was meant which the letter 
affirms. But the most illiterate person must see 
that language such as the above, is not the language 
of sober statement, but of highly wrought poetic 
emotion, and for that reason it requires very cautious 
interpretation. Instead of caution, however, theolo- 
gians — ^the last men in the world who ought to be 
guilty of such indiscretion — have insisted on the let- 
ter to the uttermost. They regard such passages as 
the absolute dicta of the severest and most precise 
systematic theology. They make no allowance for 
the poetic nature of the composition ; they demand 
that these intense stanzas of 

Thoughts that breathe 
And words that burn, 

must be interpreted and regarded as maxims in 



1 42 INTEEPEETATION. 

religion, to which, as to a line drawn with mathe- 
matical exactness, all our ideas must rigidly conform. 
What would be thought of the sanity of a writer 
who should insist on interpreting modern poetry on 
this principle. Try this dead letter system on Shak- 
speare, Young, or Milton ; or, on many of the sub- 
limest portions of the Bible itself, which have no 
reference to human character, and see how it would 
confound all sense. 

For instance try it on the following : 

Ps. Ix. 8. Moab is my washpot ; 

Over Edom will I cast my shoe ; 
PMlistia triumph thou, because of me ! 
Ps. xxii. 6. But I am a worm, and no man ; 

A reproach of men, and despised of the people. 
Hab. iii. 3-6. God came down from Teman, 
And the holy one from Paran. 
And His brightness was as the light. 
He had horns coming out of His head ; 
. And there was the hiding of His power. 
Before Him went the pestilence, 
And burning coals, went forth at His feet. 
He stood and measured the earth ; 
He beheld, and drove asunder the nations ; 
And the everlasting mountains were scattered, 
The perpetual hills did bow ; 
His ways are everlasting ! 
Ps. Ixxviii. 65. Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and 
like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine. 



GENERAL RULES. 143 

Let the naked letter be insisted on in such pas- 
sages, .and why not, if in the other ; and what 
absurdity would be the result! Why is it never 
attempted ? When we find, as in the 51st and 58th 
Psalms, passages respecting the moral character of 
man, does truth and propriety demand that we 
should abandon all common sense, and insist on all 
the strictness and sternness of the letter, without 
regard to consequences, even though it should lead 
us to assert that God shapes men transgressors of His 
law in the first moments of their existence, and 
dooms them to wrath before they are born ? Does 
truth require this? Does reverence for the Scrip- 
tures require it? In our view, reverence for the 
Bible, and truth, and common sense, all require the 
very opposite. 

We do not say, that poetry of necessity exagge- 
rates even doctrinal statements. The inspired poetry 
of the Bible contains much doctrine, clearly and 
fairly stated in the very best and most impressive 
forms. But let due allowance be made for the inten- 
sity of poetry, especially when describing the char- 
acter of man, or the ways and attributes of God. 
Never let the nature of the subj^ect be forgotten ; for 
thus only can we honor the Word of God, and gain 
the meaning it was designed to impart. 

With these precautions, as worthy of constant 
remembrance, we proceed to interpret the poetry of 



144 mTEBPEETATION. 

tlie Bible on the same general principles as other 
portions of the Scriptures. 

TWELFTH GENERAL EULE. 

'No interpretation is correct when it bases any doc- 
trine on a mere phrase. 

The reason we assign for this rule is that a phrase 
is used simply to characterize, or qualify a doctrine, 
never solely to contain it. A phrase is a mere frac- 
tion of a sentence, and is necessarily relative and 
imperfect. No writer ever intends to found any 
sentiment on such a narrow basis ; it would be like 
an effort to conceal his sentiments under cover of an 
adverb, or an adjective. 

A writer on Leviticus has furnished a notable 
specimen of this error, against which om* rule is 
meant to protect us. On Levit. xii. 2, he comments 
thus : " The woman is made unclean by the birth of 
a child. Why is this ? Because the child is born a 
sinner, an heir of hell. She that bare him is there- 
fore held unclean." The vicious circle in this logic 
is broad and distinct ; we wonder it did not catch 
the eye of the comijjLentator. But the basis of his 
comment more immediately concerns us. It is the 
phrase " she shall be unclean," on which he builds 
the doctrine that the child is " a sinner, an heir of 
hell;" and because of the cliild's character, he 



GENEEAL RULES. 145 

concludes the mother is as bad as the child, " she 
shall be tmclean." But in the Levitical law, this 
phrase had no such signification. It meant simply 
that the person to whom it applied, was for a speci- 
fied time, deprived of certain public religious privi- 
leges. See Num. 'nx. passim. Yet our author, for 
reasons known only to himself, heads his comment 
on this passage with the words "original sin," as 
though that doctrine were taught us in these words 
— " she shall be unclean seven days !" And having 
found that doctrine in this phrase, he concludes with 
the remark, " Adam's imputed guilt rests on all his 
posterity." Truly, Moses did not know the deep 
significancy of this simple statement, that a mother, 
after the birth of a child, was for seven days to 
remain at home, and not to appear in any public 
religious service. See Bonar on Leviticus, p. 
328, 9, Carter's edition. There is not much evi- 
dence from this commentary that our science is 
advancing. 

The Church of Eome gives us another instance of 
the same error, in regard to the phrase "private 
interpretation," 2 Peter, i. 20. On this they rest 
their doctrine against the use of the Scriptures by 
the common people. But look at the phrase in its 
connection. The apostle is speaking of prophecy 
and not of Scripture in general, and the reason he 

7 



146 INTEEPEETATION. 

assigns why prophecy is of no private interpretation, 
or fulfillment, is because it is given not from man, 
but from God. On this account its interpretation is 
not to be governed by the caprice of any man, but 
according to the will of God ; and, therefore, he says, 
" Te do well to take heed thereto, as unto a light 
shining in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the 
day-star arise in your hearts." Hence, instead of 
denying the interpretation, or reading of the Scrip- 
tures by the people, the apostle solemnly inculcates 
the duty of their giving good heed thereto, as 
essentially connected with the salvation of their 
souls. 

'No doubt the Church of Eome exhibits great 
adroitness in explaining the Bible. There is one 
specimen, as showing their competency, which we 
cannot refuse to quote. It occurs in Corpus Juris 
Canonicis^ their book of canon law ; in the chapter 
respecting lay trustees of church property, say they, 
" This is prohibited in the law of Moses, who says, 
Hhou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass to- 
gether ;' that is, they shall not have laymen as trus- 
tees of church property ! " This is competency to 
interpret the Bible ! They have not, however, solved 
one difficulty — which of the two animals represents 
the priest ? 

The phrase, " blot me out of thy book," Exod, 



GENERAL EULES. 147 

xxxii. 32, has been made a test of Christian charac- 
ter ; so that they who could not say, they were will- 
ing to be eternally damned, have been regarded as 
destitute of that submission, which is the evidence 
of the new birth. But plainly, it had no such force 
as used by Moses. He meant to say — " forget me, 
take no account of me, in respect to anything pro- 
posed concerning the future destiny of thy people ; 
pass me by, regard me as not written in thy book ;" 
without any reference to eternal woe. 

The phrases, " the Lord is at hand ;" " the Judge 
is at the door," in early times, were perverted so as 
to teach the immediate appearance of our Lord. So 
the phrases, " into the water," and '' up out of the 
water," are supposed to teach the doctrine of 
immersion ; with what force may be seen by com- 
paring them with Jos. iv. 18, where there was 
certainly no immersion. 

The father of sacred exegesis in this country, Moses 
Stuart, has given a striking illustration of the conse- 
quence of neglecting our rule. The phrase " things 
which must shortly come to pass," Eev. i. 1, led him to 
believe that the Book of Eevelation.was fulfilled 
before the destruction of Jerusalem, about 40 years" 
after our Lord's ascension. The true force of this 
phrase, is that the things would shortly iegin to be 
fulfilled ; but how long they would continue fulfill- 



148 INTEKPEETATION. 

ing, is not said. The whole drift of the Book shows 
that they would continue to be fulflUed to the end 
of the world,— Stuart, on Apoc. ii. vol. p. 472. 

But if any illustration remains to be noticed, it is 
that of the phrase " by nature," Eph, ii. 3. On this 
single expression, which the context fully explains, 
is built a whole system of theology, of a certain 
name. It is the one solid hinge, on which that sys- 
tem turns. An advocate of the system, a young pro- 
fessor of some promise, has attempted to show from 
this single phrase, " that sin is a nature," and « that 
nature is guilt." He says, however, expressly, that 
sin is "self-acted," a thing done by the sinner; and 
that it is done " deep beyond the sphere of conscious- 
ness, in its first acts ;" and yet he labors ingeniously 
to show, that it is not so much an act, nor a series of 
acts, as a "nature." What this means, we profess 
no ability to understand ; but it verily does appear 
to us, that if sin be "self-acted," and "a nature" 
too, here is a wonderful mystery. Paul never saw 
60 deep into the matter. Every sinner acts his sins, 
and they are "a nature!" Does not every sinner 
then, act— or create— his nature? and, is not every 
nature self-acted, and sinful? and yet, what of that? 
what advance has been made towards a solution of 
the great difficulty, for which this theory was 
invented? none at all. Much more rational is the 



GENERAL RULES. 149 

apostle's own version of the matter. Writing to 
those who had been sinners, bnt were then converted 
by the Spirit of God, he reminds them that they had 
been transgressors like other men, and therefore 
nnder the wrath of God. His language is, "and 
were by natm^e the childi-en of wrath, even as 
others." He did not mean to utter any intense 
metaphysical theology, such as vegetates in theologi- 
cal class-rooms, and dull magazines, and reviews; 
he did not say, by the mere accident of birth, they 
were heirs of eternal perdition, before ever they had 
acted at all ; but simply, that following the constitu- 
tional desires of their nature, like other men, they 
had disobeyed God, and on that account, were under 
the sentence of His wrath. Such is Paul's meaning, 
lying patent on the face of his words. And what he 
thus declares, the Bible everywhere confirms, in 
reference to all that sin. The statement commends 
itself to common sense. Dr. Eobinson, sub voce, 
(^vGSL^ gives precisely this view. He says, "by 
nature," is the native mode of thinking, feeling, 
acting, as unenlightened by the influence of Divine 
truth." As strictly equivalent in sense, he quotes 
the same phrase as used by Paul, Eom. ii. 14, of the 
Gentiles, " who do by nature, the things contained in 
th« law." Here then is not the shadow of a founda- 
tion, for the idea that men are sinners by creation, 



150 rNTTEEPRETATIOISr. 

or by the fact of their descent simply from sinful 
parents, or by creating their own nature. Men are 
sinners voluntarily, by the free exercise of their wills, 
in the natural way ; thus they are the children of 
wrath; and such is the true force of the phrase, "by 
nature." But surely, we need hardly repeat it, such 
a narrow foundation as this phrase, " by nature," is 
all too narrow, for any such system of doctrine as 
that to which we have referred. If sin is by nature, 
it is not by will ; otherwise, will is no longer will, 
human responsibility is more a pretence than a 
reality, and sin more a calamity than a crime. But 
in face of all these theories, this we know, that 
every sinner is "without excuse before God; and 
this proves sin to be infallibly, and always, a product 
of the will. 

THIETEENTH GENEKAL ETJLE. 

When any doctrine is stated, or event described 
in different passages, the briefer statement is always 
to be interpreted consistently with the more ex- 
tended. 

The soundness as well as necessity of this rule will 
be admitted on all hands ; and it hardly needs an 
illustration. Yet there are instances not a few, in 
which its application is required. 



GENERAL EULES. 151 

Thus in respect to the statement of the apostle, 
Eom. Y. 12, " Wherefore as by one man sin entered 
into the world, and death by sin, and so death 
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." This 
is one of the briefest statements on the great topics 
of death and sin, and the depravity of the human 
race, that can possibly be made. It is so brief that 
almost any shade of sentiment on these topics may 
find shelter under it. But for that reason, we must 
the more cautiously proceed with its interpretation, 
that the harmony existing between it and every 
other Scripture on the same point, may by all means 
be preserved. It were surely rashness not to be 
defended, to conclude from these words that as sin 
came into the world by one man, therefore all men 
are siimers without any choice of their own, or that 
all men actually existed in the one man, acted in him, 
and died in him, as some interpreters have supposed. 
Compare with this statement of Paul, the elaborate 
explanation of human accountability, and human 
guilt, by Ezekiel in his 18th chapter. 

Again; Ps. xxxiii. 9, "He spake and it was 
done, He commanded and it stood fast ;" and Exod. 
XX. 11, " For in six days the Lord made heaven 
and earth, and the sea, and all that is in them, and 
rested the seventh day." These are passages from 



152^ ESTTERPRETATION. 

whicli it might be supposed that this world and all 
its inhabitants were the work of an instant of time, 
or at least of six literal days. But the language of 
both passages is to be interpreted in harmony with 
the more extended account of creation in Genesis. 
In the fuller statement, the creation of the heavens 
and the earth was not the work of six days, nor of 
an instant ; no specific time is there given in which 
these events occurred. Of course this is not to say 
but Omnipotence could have accomplished even 
such a work in a moment. The question in this 
case is not one of power, but of record ; and the 
record must be treated, not with violence, but with 
fairness. The creation of the heavens and the earth 
was in " the beginning ;" and it was the work of 
God ; but how long it was between the first act of 
creation, and the setting in order the present econo- 
my, how long the earth after its creation was " with- 
out form and void," and how long the Spirit moved 
on the face of the deep," we know not. Our present 
economy, the peopling and arranging of our present 
world, was the work of six days as Moses relates. 
At least this is just the view we have felt compelled 
to take of the matter. But then, this is not to say 
that the solid globe and all upon it, and the heavens 
also, and all their starry hosts of worlds, and their 



GENERAL RULES. 153 

inhabitants, were all spoken into being in tbe pre- 
cise space of six days. This is what Moses and 
David surely did not mean to assert. 

There is a brevity of expression, a swiftness of 
thought, a condensation of words, which is not 
^explicable, save with cantion and patience. He is 
the best interpreter who most religiously keeps this 
in mind, and who gives to Scriptnre the privilege 
of uttering its whole testimony in its own way. 

FOURTEENTH GENERAL RULE. 

No interpretation is to be entertained as sound, 
which violates the explicit definitions of Scrip- 
tnre. 

In definitions consists the certainty of all science, 
and the harmony of all Christian doctrine. Those 
of Scriptnre are permanent way-marks in the path 
of the interpreter, which, if he neglects, he will 
surely wander into error. As marking the boun- 
daries of doctrine, they are, of course, everywhere 
the same, in all the sacred writers, running through 
the' entire system of inspired truth, and holding the 
consistency of the whole compactly together. There 
is no book of exact science in which there is greater 
precision and clearness of definitions, than in tlie 
Bible. Our canon is a fundamental one ; wherever 

7^ 



154: INTEEPEETATION. 

there is a definition, onr interpretations must be 
consistent with it. 

For example, it has been attempted to maintain 
that the six days in Genesis are six periods of inde- 
finite extent ; and the origin of the attempt has 
been through the discoveries of geology. If the 
six days are regarded as six periods, the Bible and 
geology, it is argued, can be reconciled. The ques- 
tion, we submit, is not, were there six periods of 
indefinite length, before the constitution of the 
present world ? but, did the sacred writer intend to 
speak of six such days^ as that word most usually 
represents ? We do not deny the existence of six 
periods, such as geology requires ; but we think 
there is good reason for believing that Moses meant 
six usual days, in his account of the setting in order 
of our present world. "Witness his definition of the 
word "day," in the fourth commandment. "Six 
days shalt thou labor and do all thy work ; but the 
seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God," 
&c. ; " for in six days the Lord made heaven and 
earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested 
the seventh day." 

This is a precise and intelligible definition of what 
a day is. We say not that it defines the amount of 
work done ; we say not that all creation was literally 
spoken into being just in six days; but we do say 



GENERAL RULES. 155 

that here we get the idea definitely imparted of the 
length of a day, as it is used in the account of the 
arranging and peopling of our present world. The 
setting in order of our present globe, and the creat- 
ing its inhabitants, is not equivalent, as we under- 
stand it, to the creation of the whole universe ; but 
it is affirmed definitely, that it was accomplished in 
six days of ordinary time ; and hence, however long 
the world may have existed before tliese six days, its 
present order was the work of that precise period, if 
language is to be understood in its ordinary significa- 
tion ; if not, we know not what to say. Philosophy 
and science may do much ; but this they cannot do — 
they cannot overturn one of the definitions of Scrip- 
ture. 

From Acts ii. 22, "A man approved of God," 
and Gal. iv. 4, " Made of a woman," and Jno. xiv. 
28, " My Father is greater than I," it has been 
attempted to prove Christ to be no more than a man. 
But we interpose the principle of our rule. A defi- 
nition of Christ's nature and attributes has been 
given, and all these and similar passages must be 
explained accordingly. The definition to which we 
refer is in Jno. i. 1, 2, 3, Phil. ii. 6-11, Heb. i. 1-14; 
and a more precise and designedly guarded defini- 
tion it is impossible to frame, and it must influence 
the entire record concerning Christ. To interpret 



156 INTEEPRETATIOI^. 

any passage concerning Him, so as to contradict these 
definitions, wonld be a wresting of Scripture, a vio- 
lation of its inspiration. How can it be that the 
Scriptures are inspired, if they contradict their own 
positive definitions ? The passages above referred to 
teach the humanity of Christ, it is true; but our 
position is that a definition of the nature and attri- 
butes of our Lord has been given, such as forbids us 
to limit His nature and attributes to those of mere 
humanity. 

Ps. li. 6, " Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and 
in sin did my mother conceive me." If these words 
be interpreted so as to convey the idea that there is 
corruption or depravity adhering to man's nature, as 
one of its attributes, innate, hereditary, and causative 
by necessity of all sin, apart from voluntary choice on 
the part of the sinner, then this is a contradiction of 
definitions of sin found in various Scriptures, and is 
not to be entertained. These definitions give us the 
only true and allowable conceptions of sin ; and from 
thesQ there must be no departure. 

It is remarkable with what clearness the Scriptures 
define sin. Thus our Lord: Mark vii. 20, "That 
which Cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. 
For from within, out of the heart of man, proceed 
evil thoughts," &c. And yet more expressly in ver. 
15, "There is nothing from without a man, that 



GENERAL RULES. 157 

entering into him can defile him; but the things 
which come out of him, those are they that defile 
the man." Sin is something that has its origin in 
evil thought, in the man's own heart, by the man's 
own agency, and of which he is the sole author. To 
the same effect precisely is IJno. iii. 4, "Sin is the 
transgression of the law;" sin is something which 
the transgressor performs. So likewise James i. 15, 
" But every man is tempted when he is di^awn away 
of his own lust^ and enticed. Then when lust hath 
conceived, it bringeth forth sin ; and sin, when it is 
finished, bringeth forth death." The strictest phi- 
losophy of the schools could not exceed the precision 
and sharpness of this definition. All the sin with 
which any man is chargeable originates in himself, 
and is acted by himself. 

In this definition there is a very general agreement 
among theologians. The Westminster theologians 
say, " Sin is any want of conformity unto, or trans- 
gression of, the law of God." Their " want of con- 
formity " does not in fact add any new idea to that 
of transgression. And of original sin itself, they 
say it is " transgression." Chalmers quotes Jno. iii. 
19, V. 40, and vii. 17, to show thatfVhenever guilt is 
charged on any act or disposition, the will of man 
has always to do with it. Coleridge says, " A state, 
or act, that has not its origin in the will, may be 



158 mTERPKETATION. 

calamity, deformity, disease, or mischief, but sin it 
cannot be." McCosb, p. 340, says, "Sin consists 
essentially in the will refusing to submit itself to the 
law of God." Webster says, " Sin is the voluntary 
departure of a moral agent from a known rule of 
rectitude, or duty, prescribed by God." This, then, 
in perfect harmony with the definition of the Scrip- 
tures, may be set down as the true and only universal 
conception of the human mind as to what sin is. 

Our rule binds us stringently, in all our interpreta- 
tions of Scripture, to keep within the definitions 
which it gives. The force of this principle Augus- 
tine certainly felt, when, in the course of his argu- 
ment with Pelagius, after attempting to define what 
is meant by original depravity in man, he finally 
says, " It is nothing substantial, but is a quality of 
the affections, a weakness." He shrunk from saying 
it was positively and truly a sin. Common sense 
thus demands just what the Bible declares, that sin 
is an act of voluntary disobedience to the will of 
God ; not a quality created in the nature ; something 
acted, not a shadow. If it is regarded as a quality, 
it cannot be charged on men ; and the divine govern- 
ment is not clear concerning it. Here the words of 
the great theologian, John Howe, rush to our recol- 
lection: Vol. I. p. 117, 118, ''The notion of the 
goodness of God, methinks, should stick so close to 



GENERAL EULES. 159 

our minds, and create such a sense in our souls, as 
should be infinitely dearer to us than all our senses 
and powers. And that we should rather choose to 
have our sight, hearing, motive power, or what not 
besides, disputed, or even torn away from us, than 
ever suffer ourselves to be disputed into a belief that 
the holy and good God should irresistibly determine 
the will of men to, and punish the same thing. ^ ^ 
For I would appeal to the quick, refined sense of any 
sober and pious mind, after serious, inward consulta- 
tion with itself; being closely urged, with the horror 
of so black a conception of God, that he should be 
supposed irresistibly to determine the will of a man 
to the hatred of his own most blessed self, and then 
to exact severest punishment for the offence done, 
what relief it would now be to it, to be told in reply 
that man is, imder the law and God above it. A 
defence that doubles the force of the assault. What ! 
God make a law, and necessitate the violation of it ! 
and yet also punish that violation! And this be 
thought a sufficient salvo, that Himself is not subject 
to any law! Will a quick-scented, tender spirit, 
wounded by so insufferable indignity, offered to a 
holy God, be any whit eased, or relieved by the thin 
sophistry of only a collusive ambiguity in the word 
law ? ^ ^ Or, what relief is there in that dream 
of the supposed possibility of God's making a rea- 



160 INTEEPEETATIOlSr. 

sonable creature with an innocent aversion to Him- 
self? For what can be supposed more repugnant, or 
what more impertinent ? If innocent, how were it 
punishable? A law ready made in the case, how 
can it be innocent ?" 

It is the notion of the goodness of God that for- 
bids us from travelling out of the record of his "Word, 
on the subject of sin. It compels us to dismiss all 
theories opposed to its definitions, and content our- 
selves with the facts of the case. The simple facts 
in the case, with the Bible's definition before us, are 
sufficient to explain the nature of sin, and the mys- 
tery of its universality. What are the facts ? (1) We 
have a free agent, in every man living. (2) We have 
a holy law, level to the powers of every man. (3) As 
constituting sin, we have, last of all, in every case in 
which sin occurs, the free choice of the man's will^ 
contrary to the will of God, and this choice once 
made, fixes upon the maker the charge of sin ; not 
because of his nature, but because, with a nature 
such as God was pleased to give him, he freely 
transgressed the will of God. This is the mystery of 
sin. An active, free, conscious will, transgressing 
the law, as Adam did, as the angels did, is enough 
to account for all the sins, of all the men, and all the 
angels that ever lived, and sinned, since the days of 
eternity. See Barnes on James, p. 31. 



GENERAL KULES. 161 

It has long forced itself on our minds, that the 
current views on this whole subject have been much 
influenced, if not actually determined, by the con- 
troversies and opinions of the Reformers. Dogmas 
have a tradition, and a history; w^e think it is so in 
this case. The Reformers were under the necessity 
of debating the great question, are works meritori- 
ous ? The Romanists said, Tes ; the Reformers not 
only answered, J^o ; they laid down the position, 
that since the Fall^ mam, cannot o'bey the la/w of God 
at all. If this could be maintained, it settled the 
question respecting the merit of works. Man could 
merit nothing, if he could do nothing. Melancthon 
was so resolute as to make the effort to lodge the 
doctrine in metaphysics. Said he : " Since whatever 
happens, happens by necessity, agreeably to the 
Divine foreknowledge, it is plain that our will has 
no liberty whatever." Loc. Comm. p. 36. N"o lib- 
erty to love God, or do His will ! and that by the 
predetermined decree of God Himself! How comes 
that ? No matter if the victory is only gained over 
these Romanists. But was this not buying victory 
at too dear a rate ? In our view, it is by a principle 
of law that the Romanists are to be refuted, in 
respect to the question of works. " He that offends 
in one point, is guilty of all;" he that has sinned, 



162 mTEEPRETATION. 

deserves, and can deserve, nothing but pnnisliment. 
The sinner is therefore shut up to the faith of Christ, 
and to salvation as a free gift, not of works, lest any 
man should boast. 

Of the two theories, then, that regard sin, one, as 
a necessary product of nature, the other, as an act 
of the will, we decidedly prefer the latter; it is 
more consistent with Scripture, with the doctrine of 
accountability, and the decisions of conscience. 
David did not mean to contradict this theory. He 
gave utterance to the words in Pa. li. 5, in a state of 
deep mental agitation. Witness the verse preceding, 
where he declares he had sinned against God only. 
"Was this literally so ? Had he not sinned against 
his friend, and the wife of his bosom, and against 
the whole kingdom, and his own conscience ? 
Certainly he had. But how then will you dispose of 
his words? By pleading the state of his mind. 
That gave an exaggerated tone to his language ; it 
was the language of deep emotion, of highly-excited 
penitence, and sorrow. 'No wonder then at his 
words. No wonder that he says, he was " shaped in 
iniquity, and conceived in sin." "He wist not what 
he said." There was no language too strong, or too 
strange, to express his sense of his conduct. He was 
willing to say he was a sinner from the moment of 



GEKEEAL RULES. 163 

his conception. "Witness how emotion, in its highest 
states, will express itself, even in a cool, theological 
argument. Gal. iv. 19, " My little children, of whom I 
travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you." 
Has it ever entered into any sane mind to interpret 
these words on the same principles of strict literal- 
ism, that have been applied to the language of 
David ? No, verily ! But we must pervert the 
whole Scripture, if we bind down our interpretations 
to the cold letter in such passages. Let us rather 
preserve our common sense. 

There is one significant fact we note. There is not 
an instance in all the Bible where sin is predicated 
of any faculty, disposition, propensity, or attribute 
of man's natm-e, by itself, as such ; it is always predi- 
cated of some person as exercising the faculty, or 
disposition. There is always a free moral agent, held 
accoimtable for the thing — sin. This is one element 
of the Bible's definition not to be ignored. Thus 
writes the venerable Richards (tract on Atonement), 
" sin^ guilty iU-desert are, in the very nature of things, 
fersonalP Magee, as quoted by Richards, says: 
" Guilt and punishment cannot be conceived, but 
with reference to consciousness which cannot be 
transferred :" p. 12. 

Dr. "Woods says, Letters to Unit. p. M, " Every 
attempt to prove that God ever imputes to man any 



164: INTERPRETATION. 

sinful disposition, or act which is not strictly his own, 
has failed of success." 

We therefore reiterate onr canon, that no interpre- 
tation is correct, which violates the definitions of 
Scripture. It is a law never to be forgotten or 
transgressed. 



THE BIBLE SIJPKEME. 165 



CHAPTEE Vni. 

A FUNDAMENTAL PEESTCrPLE ENFOECED. 

Although in view of what has been written, every 
principle essential to a consistent system of Biblical 
interpretation seems to be embraced, there is yet 
another worthy of a separate notice, at this particu- 
lar stage of our labors, and which, because of its^ 
great importance and evident bearing on the whole 
subject, may well receive an extended illustration 
and defence at our hands. 

It is this : as respects all knowledge in the depart- 
ment of religion and morals, the Bible is a source of 
information beyond which no human mind can 
advance, unassisted of God, while in this world. 

There is a constant and perhaps a constitutional 
tendency in the human mind to travel into the 
regions of the mysterious and the unknown ; or, 
which amounts to the same thing, into regions alto- 
gether beyond those which the Bible has revealed. 



166 INTEKPEETATION. 

Men are not disposed to content themselves within 
the limits assigned them by Divine wisdom. They 
venture, they know not why, into regions, where no 
inspired writer ever dared to set his foot. But it 
need hardly be said, all such wanderings have 
proved only vanity and vexation of spirit. There 
are good reasons why God has set bounds, saying, 
to the adventurous mind of man, as he did of old 
to the sea, "Thus far shalt thou come, but no 
further." 

Of this we might mention many notable exam- 
ples ; but, one or two must suffice. One is in 
reference to what has been called " the conflict of 
ages," or, the accounting for the universality of sin 
in our world. ITot content with tracing it to Adam, 
a recent writer, following the example of two or 
three before him, undertakes to prove that it is 
traceable to the pre-existence and sins of men, in a 
world before the present ; in that previous world 
mankind all lived and sinned ; and for their sins, 
they are here involved in sin and chastisement! 
This is all extra — the Bible ; it is a series of ideas 
which the Bible has nowhere expressed. And yet 
a desire to have the Bible on his side, has led this 
writer to a vigorous effort to find at least one text 
to support him. He undertakes to interpret Rom. 
V. 12, so as to favor his theory : " Wherefore as by 



THE BIBLE SUPEEME. 167 

one man sin entered into the world, and death by 
sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all 
have sinned." Some will have it, as a deduction, 
from the last clause of this verse, that all men 
existed, acted, sinned and died in the one person, 
Adam ; but this writer will make a stranger deduc- 
tion still, viz. : that these words prove that all men 
existed, acted, sinned, and fell before Adam was 
created ! There is not much to choose between the 
two theories ; one is pre-existence since Adam, the 
other pre-existence before Adam. But these words 
of Paul are fatal to the position that men sinned in 
a previous world. For, as they read, man was in 
the world before sin was in it, because sin did not 
exist, until man produced it. Being innocent, he 
was tempted, and yielded ; and for the first time, sin 
was in the world. This was after his creation, con- 
sequently neither man, nor man's sins, existed in a 
previous state. This is the field of man's first being, 
and man's first sins ; imless, indeed, we travel 
beyond the limits of the Bible, and when once beyond 
these limits, the unknown is all before us, like the 
wide, wide sea ! 

Another example of this same tendency is fur- 
nished by the Bomanists, in their dogma of the 
immaculate conception. Of this dogma, there is 
positively, on their own admission, not a syllable of 



168 INTERPKETATION. 

proof in the Bible. Yet in tlie year A.D. 1854, 
wliat do we see — ^the whole hierarchy of the Popish 
church, assembled to assert that the Mother of our 
Lord was conceived and bom without taint of sin ! 
Doctrinally, there may be no objections to this 
dogma ; because, for anything that appears, all men 
may have been conceived and born without taint of 
sin. Sin is the transgression of the law, and attaches 
only to those who have committed it. The error 
lies in their declaring the dogma as matter of faith 
for the first time, and especially in reference to that 
one individual, thus claiming for it the apparent 
authority of the Scriptures. On this point, as on 
the whole subject of man's character, the Scriptures 
are true to the great principle of going no further in 
theory than the facts allow. The facts in the case 
are, that no creature is a sinner until he sins ; that 
no taint of sin, no appearance of guilt belongs to any 
creature until it is contracted by actual conduct. 
And in this we desire most steadfastly to rest. 
Because the Bible rests here, and it is the criterion 
of all religious and moral truth, the limit of all 
human knowledge on these subjects. This is our 
stand-point, and as Luther said, " We cannot move 
from it ; may God help us!" Our principle is, when 
we have reached the meaning of the Bible, we have 
reached the furthest limit of knowledge. To pre- 



THE BIBLE SUPREME. 169 

tend we can go farther is a vain pretence. The 
Bible is the ultima ratio of all doctrine. Beyond 
its teachings there is nothing certain. Only grant 
that the human mind can rise higher than the Bible, 
into the regions of truth, and what next ? The next 
position will be, that the Bible is defective. Against 
this we enter a solemn protest. Once more we 
adopt the sentiment of the great reformer : " I have 
a book " — said Luther — " which is my creed ; that 
is my Bible ; there I rest, and wish nothing 
beyond." 

The mischief attending the neglect of our funda- 
mental principle is not merely an occasional error, 
it is the necessary perversion of the Scriptures to 
which it leads. Those who go beyond its revela- 
tions, are somehow usually very desirous to gain its 
support to their vagaries. This is the fact with him 
who argues for the pre-existence of the race ; and it is 
notoriously the fact with the Komanists, who are 
constantly perverting Scripture to favor their pecu- 
liar doctrines. The consequence of all such efforts 
is a confirmed habit, ever strengthening, of misin- 
terpreting the Scriptures, until the integrity of reve- 
lation is wholly destroyed. 

But our fundamental principle puts an end to all 
this. " To the law and to the testimony ; if they 
speak not according to these, it is because there is 



170 INTERPEETATION. i 

no trnth in them." The Bible in its unapproachable 
majesty and completeness is worthy of the nndispnted 
dominion and reverence of the human mind. It is 
the voice of the Eternal and all- wise God. 



LEXICONS AND ETYMOLOGY. 171 



CHAPTEE IX. 

ON THE AlJTfiOEITY OF LEXICONS, AND ETYTMOLOaY IN 
THE WOEK OF INTEKPKETATION. 

The connection of this topic with the science of 
Interpretation is so close, that we cannot pass it by. 
Students especially are in danger of regarding their 
lexicons as infallible, and of supposing that if they 
trace a word to its root, they thus arrive at a mean- 
ing which cannot be disputed. In this they may 
find themselves deceived. 

What is the measure of authority to be conceded 
to lexicons ? is a question every independent mind 
will not fail to raise and answer for itself. 

We would say, then, in reply, the measure of 
authority to be conceded to lexicons of the Old and 
New Testaments, is the measure of their accuracy in 
their definitions, and no more. While we say this, 
it is with unfeigned pleasure we here express our 
conviction, that in no department of sacred litera- 
ture has there been such admirable progress made, 



172 INTERPRETATION. 

as in lexicography. In tlie hands of Dr. Edward 
Kobinson, it has attained the ripe condition of a 
science, the principles of which are definitely settled. 
"What "Webster has done for English, Robinson has 
done for the Hebrew of the Old, and the Greek of 
the New Testament. 

The older lexicons, common twenty-five years ago, 
were defective, because compiled on principles incon- 
sistent with a natural and logical definition of words. 
In lexicons worthy of being used in the work of 
exegesis, the primary sense of the word is first 
given, with quotations of passages in which it occurs. 
Then follow the secondary, or metaphorical significa- 
tions, with proof passages, as before, clearly showing 
that the primary sense of the words has been 
changed. In such lexicons, the governing principle 
is that of correct reasoning and the known nature of 
the subject, proceeding from a strictly physical, to a 
spiritual, or moral signification. If these defini- 
tions are correct, if they represent fairly the use 
of words, they have authority ; otherwise they have 
none. 

Lexicons caimot create new meanings and impose 
them on words; their ofiice is to unfold truthfully 
the meaning which words have already received at 
the hands of usage. In their nature, therefore, they 
are nothing more nor less than abbreviated com- 



LEXICONS AND ETYMOLOGY. 173 

mentaries on the Scriptures ; records of results ; and 
these results are simply interpretations or decisions, 
on the part of the lexicographer, of the meaning of 
Scripture, as he views it ; and hence they are neither 
final nor infallible. Every definition is to be tested, 
as we test the meaning of the Bible itself. The 
appeal is to the Scriptures, and to those rul^s of 
ascertaining its sense, to which all men must submit, 
because they are fundamental and independent. 
Hence we are led to remark of lexicons, as before 
we have done of commentaries, that the best lexicon 
of the Bible is, beyond all dispute, just the Bible 
itself, rightly interpreted. 

In respect to etymology, this is often appealed to 
as a very important help in arriving at the true sense 
of Scripture; and it must be admitted that the 
source whence a word is derived, often throws sur- 
prising light on an obscure passage ; and this assist- 
ance ought to be furnished by every good lexicon. 
In many instances the root of a word is all but indis- 
pensable. Tet we are by no means to suppose it 
infallible ; for through the capriciousness of usage, it 
is often of no value whatever. Usage may almost 
be said to control etymology. In all languages this 
is true. For example, in English the word " villain " 
in its root means merely a villager, without reference 
to character. Now it is applied to a man of bad 



174 INTEEPRETATION". 

character only. So in hundreds of instances; so 
that usage may be said to set all roots at defi- 
ance. 

And yet the primary derivation of words is some- 
times the only effectual method of settling the sense 
of a disputed passage. Thus the elements of the 
Greek word for ^'repent," Mat. iv. 17, show beyond 
the shadow of a doubt, that our Lord did not mean 
" do penance," but " change your minds, and lead a 
new life." The derivation of "deacon," 1 Tim. 3-8, 
and wherever it occurs, proves it does not signify a 
candidate for the pulpit, but " a steward of the 
poor." Acts viii. 33, " In his humiliation his judg- 
ment was taken away ;" here the original word for 
"judgment" shows it was not his mind, but his just 
sentence that was denied him. Acts xv. 41, " And 
he went through Syria and Oelicia confirming the 
churches ;" the word for " confirming " used also in 
Acts xiv. 22, and xviii. 23, proves that apostolic con- 
firmation was not that confirmation now practised in 
Eomanist and Episcopal Churches. There is no 
word for Episcopal confirmation in the Scriptures, 
for the good reason, that the thing itself was not 
practised or known in apostolic and Scriptural times. 
The apostles confirmed the churches, not candidates 
for admission to the churches; and their confirma- 
tion was not the laying on of hands, but the preach- 



LEXICONS AND ETYMOLOGY. 175 

ing of the doctrines of the Gospel, whereby the 
minds of the saints were confirmed in the faith of 
Christ. 

The original for "ordained," in Acts xiv. 23, 
proves beyond question, that the elders were chosen 
or appointed by vote of the churches, in open meet- 
ing assembled, and not by the laying on of a bishop's 
hands. This choice by the church is what the word 
expresses. 

The Greek for " carriages," Acts xxi. 15, will at 
once explain, that it was not their vehicles that the 
apostles took up, but their baggage and such things 
as were needful for a foot journey over the moun- 
tains to Jerusalem. 

These and many more illustrations that might be 
given, will show what is the value of etymology, in 
this science. Wisely used, it is a most important 
help, which every student will more appreciate, the 
more he gives it his attention. 



176 INTEEPKETATION. 



CHAPTER X. 

ON THE STUDY OF THE PEOPHECIES AND THEIR 
. INTERPRETATION. 

As we have already said, it was not our intention 
to enter into all the details of this science, nor to 
attempt the exhibition of a series of rules for all the 
separate departments of Scripture. What we did 
intend to present, was a comprehensive system of 
general principles, which, when honestly applied^ 
might guide sincere inquirers to an understanding of 
the main diflEiculties of the Word of God ; such a 
system, it is hoped, we have supplied. We do not 
say it is complete ; we hope it is sound and reliable, 
so far as it goes. Dr. Davidson, of England, has 
pointed out very clearly, the characteristics which 
all rules of interpretation should possess. He says : 
" Our rules should approach, as nearly as possible, to 
the nature of axioms. All reasoning proceeds on 
certain data, that must be taken for granted, as self- 
evident, or such as the human mind is at once dis- 



THE PROPHECIES. 177 

posed to receive. This holds good in mathematics 
it is the case in mental philosophy ; it is true of all 
sciences. Canons of interpretation should, therefore, 
nearly correspond to axioms, and be equally obvious 
to the perception of all. They ought not to be the 
result of speculation, or the far-fetched deductions 
of reason. Eather should they be axioms lying at 
the foundation of religious truth. If there be mu.ch 
room to question their reality, they will never serve 
important and valuable purposes. The stamp and 
impress of common sense, must be on their fore- 
heads." Sac. Her. p. 613. See also Barnes on Gal. 
p. 373. 

These sentiments harmonize entirely with our 
whole design in the present work ; they lay bare the 
foundation of the system here presented. We sin- 
cerely hope common sense is impressed on every 
rule and axiom we have here laid down. If the 
series of rules be incomplete, if some of the series 
be open to objection, and it would be a marvel if 
neither supposition were true ; yet so far as the main 
difficulties and demands of the science are concerned, 
we confidently insist that the axioms and rules laid 
down, are such as cannot be proved inappropriate, 
or unworthy of the position assigned them. They are 
such as apply in all good faith, to the Sacred Scrip- 



178 INTERPRETATION. 

tures, as one grand, self-consistent revelation of the 
will of God. 

And while, therefore, we regard the Bible as one 
Book, to be interpreted according to these rules, in 
all the variety of its departments, of poetry, and of 
prose, of history, and parable, and plain didactic dis- 
course ; still there are one or two of these depart- 
ments which seem to demand some special interpre- 
tation. One of these is prophecy ; and many con- 
siderations at once present themselves, showing that 
as a special portion of the Word of God, it requires 
special attention, both in its study, and in its 
explanation. 

A very large proportion of the Bible consists of 
prophecy, and prophecy is occupied with themes of 
immense and constantly increasing importance to 
the Church, and the world. A certain, natural, and 
we might say, most useful, obscurity hangs over it. 
It is one of the great sources of evidence, in the 
argument for the Divine origin of the Bible. There 
is very great diversity of opinion in regard to many 
of its most important disclosures. Its language is 
highly figurative, and susceptible of a very great 
latitude in its explication. For these reasons, it 
seems every way appropriate, and necessary, that 
we attempt to lay down some general principles, 



THE PKOPHECIES. 179 

expressly to regu. ate our study of prophecy, and oui 
efforts at its explanation. ISTot that we give any 
countenance to the favorite notion of some, that 
every distinct species of composition needs a special 
system of rules ; not that we would not place pro- 
phecy, in the main, under the general principles 
applicable to all Scripture. But as one of the most 
prominent and interesting departments of the Bible, 
it may be well to give it more than a general con- 
sideration, and to note some of the special maxims, 
which, by nature, apply to it. All the more impres- 
sively does this whole subject commend itself to our 
serious regards, inasmuch as there is a remarkable 
and revived tendency, in some of the leading writers 
and preachers of the day, to advance unsound and 
startling views, as derived from prophecy, of the 
future history of the Gospel, and of the world. At 
this moment, it would seem as though the wildest 
notions of the tenth century, concerning the personal 
coming of Christ, and the end of the wicked, were 
again to become current. Is Christ about to come 
in person, to reign in Jerusalem, in the year 1865 ? 
Are all the pious dead to be raised, and reign with 
our Lord in Palestine, for a thousand years ? Are 
all the impenitent, living at om' Lord's coming, to be 
literally and instantaneously destroyed by fire ? Are 
they to remain in the grave a thousand years, and 



180 INTERPKETATION. 

then rise and assanlt the city of the saints ? And 
are there indeed two resurrection days — one at the 
coming of Christ, and the other one thousand years 
after? Is the beginning of these things so near at 
hand, only ten years distant, from this day ? And 
are they clearly taught in the prophets of the Old 
and New Testaments ? Many answer these questions 
in the affirmative ; and if these events are at hand, 
surely it behooves us to give all diligence to the 
important work of studying this grand department 
of the Sacred Scriptures. We therefore proceed to 
lay down some general principles to govern us in our 
work. 

I. — One of the first principles we specify, in 
regard to the study and interpretation of the prophe- 
cies, is that they can be understood. 

And we insist on this all the more strenuously, 
since it has been reiterated with such apparent sin- 
cerity, that the prophecies are dark and unintelligible. 
If this were so, it would prove the greater part of 
the Bible to be unintelligible ; a conclusion in which 
no intelligent mind can rest. The greater part of the 
Bible consists of prophecy, and this not as a matter 
of chance, but as a wise and well-ordered purpose of 
'Divine goodness. It was decreed so to be, to satisfy 
a felt want in the human soul. For through all time 



THE PROPHECIES. 181 

and under all dispensations, man needs satisfactory- 
proof of the special interposition of God in the affairs 
of this world. It is not necessary that we shonld show 
why this is so. The want certainly exists. To sat- 
isfy it in early ages, miracles were performed ; and, 
in these days, prophecy, a miracle constantly perform- 
ming, is designed to satisfy it still. Owing to the 
nature of man, and to the subjective effects of sin 
upon his heart, man is wholly dependent on the evi- 
dence that may be afforded him from time to time, 
of the divine attributes, and of the divine government 
over him. Without that evidence, he lapses into athe- 
ism and is miserable. In his best estate, surrounded, 
as he is, with a strongly sensuous nature, man will 
continue to ask, as did Gideon of old, for some sign 
that God is with him. And therefore it has been 
practically said to him, that he may have such a sign 
until the end of time, if he will but study the pro- 
phecies. In these Scriptures he cannot fail to see the 
finger of God. How wonderful and convincing is the 
demonstration here given, from the earliest time to 
the present hour, of the existence, power, wisdom, 
holiness and sovereignty of God ! If such, then, be 
the design of prophecy, how does it appear that it is 
unintelligible ? 

To evade the force of this question, it is said pro- 
phecy cannot be fully understood till the time of its 



182 INTEEPRETATION. 

fulfillment. But this is only an evasion. If prophe- 
cy cannot be understood till it is actually fulfilled, 
we ask how, in such a case, can it be properly 
prophecy at all, in any just sense of the word. To 
be prophecy, it must be intelligible, from the first mo- 
ment of its utterance ; that is, it must be understood 
that something is -foretold; and some idea of the 
time, manner of its fulfillment, and of the object of 
its prediction, must be imparted ; for all these items 
enter into the very nature of a prophecy. We grant 
all the details of any one prophecy may not be fully 
understood until after its accomplishment ; but that 
prophecy cannot be understood, as a general propo- 
sition, we do not grant ; for thus we would ignore the 
inspiration of the Scriptures. 

In reference to this point, we submit a question, 
which must have suggested itself to every one that 
has ever read the prophecies of the Bible. It is this : 
who were they to whom prophecy w^as at first ad- 
dressed ? Were they the scholars of the world, the 
men of deep research and immense erudition, of 
whom we hear in modern times, as possessing all the 
competency to master this grand department of sacred 
interpretation ? To limit this inquiry still more, who 
were the men to whom the last and most difficult book 
of prophecy was addressed? Whoever they were, be it 
remembered, it was sent to them without note or com- 



THE PROPHECIES. 18 



Q 



ment. The Eevelation was sent to the plain, un- 
lettered people of Ephesus and Smyrna, who had 
been not long converted from the gross superstitions 
of heathenism. But this book, though confessedly so 
difficult, was designed to be the great telescope of 
the Chi'istian Church, by help of which she was to 
penetrate distant ages, and trace the wonder-working 
hand of God, down to the era of the grand consumma- 
tion. And it was put into the possession of these 
plain, unlettered converts, at Ephesus and Smyrna, 
without one word of distrust of their capacity to read 
and understand it. Yea, a blessing is pronounced on 
those who do read and understand it. How, then, 
does this fact bear on the point before us ? In our 
judgment it settles the question, that the prophecies 
can be understood. 

It is in the firm faith, therefore, of this position, 
that we would have every reader and student of 
prophecy to proceed. The prophecies can be made 
to subserve the noblest purposes of comforting, con- 
firming and enlightening the mind in the principles 
of pure and undefiled religion. And this result is to 
be reached by their correct interpretation. The 
same spirit that speaks in all the precepts, speaks 
also in all the prophecies, so as to be " profitable for 
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in 



184 INTEEPEETATION. 

righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect 
thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 

II. — A second general principle to be adopted is, 
that like all other portions of Sacred Scripture, the 
prophecies have but one meaning to convey. 

It has been, and now is, one of the most fertile 
sources of error, respecting many of the prophecies, 
that they have been supposed to contain, and design- 
edly to teach, two distinct meanings, under one and the 
same form of words ; that they foretell two events, 
where the language clearly foretells only one. But 
there cannot be anything more unfounded. It is in- 
consistent with some of the fundamental maxims of a 
sound interpretation; which maxims, if we once 
abandon, all hope of a correct interpretation must 
be given up. 

We say the prophecies have one intended mean- 
ing, and one fulfillment, and no more. But in lay- 
ing down this position, we do not forget that they 
may have many re-illustrations, in the same manner 
as the proverbs. The meaning of every proverb is 
single, not double ; one, and not many. But not- 
withstanding, every proverb may have its one mean- 
ing reaffirmed thousands of times. So it is with 
the prophecies. Take for instance Is. vi. 9, " And 



THE PEOPHECrES. 185 

he said, go and tell this people, hear ye indeed, but 
understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive 
not." Here, then, was a prediction of the con- 
tinued obstinacy and unbelief of the Jews in the 
times of Isaiah ; and it was a prediction fulfilled in 
his times. But in Jno.- xii. 37, we find our Lord 
applying it to the people of His day, who refused to 
believe or obey Him ; and He styles the then state 
of the JewS; a fulfillment of this very prediction. 
Again, in Acts xxviii. 26, Paul makes still another 
application of it to the people of his time, in Eome. 
Here there would be a trijple sense in the above pro- 
phecy, if we admitted the principle against which 
we contend. But surely Isaiah did not in this case 
predict all these three events ; nor did he have before 
his eye more than one, and that one transpired in 
his own lifetime. 

On what principle, then, it may be asked, was the 
prophecy applied to the nation, in the other two 
instances ? We answer, there was a similarity in the 
circumstances, by which the application was justi- 
fied. In each case, the messenger of God was 
resisted, and his message treated with contempt. 
The historic events, therefore, resembled each other ; 
as in the days of Isaiah, when his message was 
rejected, and the people hardened themselves in im- 
penitence, so it was in the days of our Lord and ol 



186 ESTTEEPEETATION. 

Paul. They to wliom the Word of God came, 
refused to hear it, and hardened themselves in their 
sins. But there was nothing in all this to justify 
the idea of a double sense in the prophecy. That 
prophecy may be re-fulflUed ; ix.^ re-exemplified a 
thousand times, and yet its meaning is primarily and 
unchangeably one. 

This is the key to the phrase, so often occurring 
in Matthew ; " That it might be fulfilled which was 
spoken by the prophet." Its force in many instances 
is equivalent to, " Thus again was verified what the 
prophet of old predicted." There are indeed in- 
stances in Matthew and in the other evangelists, 
where the above phrase is applied to positive predic- 
tions of the events recorded ; but these instances are 
few, and can be easily distinguished from those of 
the other class. 

Under this head come the Messianic Psalms ; or 
at least some of the Psalms generally considered as 
prophetic of the Messiah. In our view, the meaning 
of many of these Psalms was exhausted in their first 
and intended fulfillment ; but in the person, character, 
and office of our Lord, they had a more glorious illus- 
tration; and therefore, what w^as originally applicable 
to David, or Solomon, became again more illustri- 
ously true of the Messiah. Of this it were easy to 
point out several examples ; while on the other hand, 



THE PROPHECIES. 187 

there are other Psalms, where the prophecy is purely- 
Messianic ; pointing to Christ from the first, and 
having all its meaning fulfilled in Him. Of course 
a sound discretion alone will guide us to a knowledge 
of these Psalms. It is perhaps impossible to decide 
in every case the precise limit within which the 
meaning of such Psalms is to be applied to the 
Redeemer. The tendency has been to apply more 
of the Psalms generally to Him, than was ever in- 
tended, in our opinion, by the Holy Spirit. Indeed 
it was laid down as a canon of interpretation, that 
all the Scripture that could be applied to Him, must 
be applied to Him; and from this false principle, 
many interpreters have not escaped to this day. 

The distinction which we have raised between the 
primary and designed sense of prophecy, and the 
many re-illustrations which it has in history, must 
never be forgotten. It relieves the whole difficulty 
in which this vexed question of the double sense has 
been involved ; and saves us from adopting a senti- 
ment which would reduce a large portion of the 
Bible to a level with the oracles of Greece and 
Pome. Prophecy was intended as a sign from God, 
of the authority and truth of His Word. As such, 
therefore, its meaning is simple, determinate, and 
intelligible. It is not double. In every particular, 
it conforms to the character and law of Him who 



188 INTERPEETATION. 

gave it. It is not yea and nay ; but yea, yea ; and 
nay, nay. "With open face," says Moses Stuart, 
" we ask, where is the proof that either prophecy, 
or any other part of the Old Testament, or of the 
New, conveys a double sense? Where is the 
authority for deciding what the occult sense is, or 
must be ? Where is the defence for trampling upon 
all the laws of interpretation, applicable to all other 
books, when we come to expound the Scriptures ? 
In the name of all that is grave, serious, rational, 
intellectual, respectful to God's eternal truth, or in- 
telligible in propounding the way of salvation to 
men, I protest against such an abuse of reason, of 
the Holy Scriptures, and of all the established prin- 
ciples of language." — Hints on Projp,^ p. 40. 

We think no candid reader will reject these senti- 
ments. On no other ground can the veracity and 
authority of the Scriptures be maintained. There 
are no difficulties yet discovered, great enough to 
compel us to depart from these sentiments for one 
instant. We do not here undertake to say there are no 
difficulties or obscurities connected with this subject. 
But we do undertake to hold on to the oneness and 
simplicity of sense in all the teachings of the Holy 
Scriptures, whether prophetic or didactic, or historic. 
This is a fundamental principle, necessary to the 
unity, dignity, intelligibility, and Divine origin of the 



THE PROPHECIES. 189 

Bible. Let tlie meaning of the prophecy be ascer- 
tained, and let the event it predicts be determined, 
and there let ns rest. K there be one, or one thou- 
sand other events, in which all the principal features 
of the prophecy re-appear, as in the multitudinous 
affairs of human life, there must often occur trans- 
actions similar almost in every respect to others 
going before ; let not the simplicity of the Scripture 
be sacrificed on that account. There is nothing new 
under the sun. But the sense of prophecy, like the 
sense of the precepts, is one, and its fulfillment one. 
The "Westminster Confession" has these weighty 
sentiments on this point : Chap. I., Sect. 9, " Tlie 
infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture, is the 
Scripture itself ; and therefore when there is a ques- 
tion about the true and full sense of any Scripture 
(which is not manifold but one), it must be searched 
and known by other places that speak more 
clearly." 

m. — A third general direction for the student and 
interpreter of prophecy is, that he investigate first, 
the prophecies already fulfilled ; the better will he 
understand those yet in process of fulfillment. 

This we insist on, as a very important preliminary 
to this difficult department of Scriptural interpreta- 
tion. To rush at once on the unfulfilled prophecies, 



190 ESTTERPRETATION, 



i 



the most profoundly difficult portions of the Bible 
without any understanding of the symbolic languagf^ 
peculiar to the prophets, and without having studied 
the manner of the prophets, in those instances in 
which their predictions have been actually fulfilled — 
what could more certainly lead to error? In all 
sciences, the first step is to acquire the elements. 
So it ought to be here ; for the fulfilled prophecies 
are in fact, the elements of prophetic interpretation ; 
and therefore necessary first of all, to be carefully 
studied. 

It is a very easy matter to be a blunderer in this 
department. We have seen a sect spring into exis- 
tence, from the ill-guided haste of a very obscure, 
and unlearned person, who, without a moment's con- 
sideration, rushed upon the interpretation of Daniel 
and John, as though he had fully studied prophecy in 
all its departments. Questions which the wisest and 
most erudite of students had hesitated to answer 
with a humble caution, he presumed to settle with 
the most absolute certainty. Where the difficulties 
of the subject should have led him to speak with 
modesty, there he was confident. The result was 
the most signal failure of all his predictions, and the 
insanity of many of his followers. Indeed, the high- 
way of history is strewed with the wreck of those 
who have perished in such delusions. In every 



THE PROPHECIES. 11^1 

country, and in every age, tliere have been those, 
who, disregarding the maxims of sound sense, have 
boldly advanced to conclusions, at variance with all 
reason, with the most obvious teachings of the Word 
of God; until it has passed into a proverb, that the 
study of prophecy, if it does not find a man insane, 
generally leaves him so. 

But nothing could be more unwarranted. The 
study of the prophecies, is the study of the inspired 
Word of God. Let it be conducted with prayer, and 
sound common sense, and the result will be comfort, 
increase in knowledge, and in all the graces of the 
Christian character. 

The point on which we now insist, is that fulfilled 
prophecy be first studied as a preparatory labor, for 
the purpose of acquiring skill, the meaning of sym- 
bols, the spirit of the prophets, and the peculiarities 
of their style. The reasonableness of such a course 
will be admitted at once. 

And connected with this general direction, is the 
careful separation of the fulfilled, from the unfulfilled 
prophecies. 'No error can be more serious than that 
of confounding these separate divisions of Scripture. 
Alas ! how often it is committed ! For example, the 
prophecies of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others, foretell- 
ing the return of the Jews from Babylon, are made 
to predict events yet to come, in these last ages of 



1 92 INTEEPEETATION. 

the world, even the return of all the Jews to Pales- 
tine, the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the personal com- 
ing of Christ, to reign over the whole world, as its 
sole monarch, for a thousand years ! These interpre- 
ters, with immense show of learning, insist upon what 
they style " a strictly literal sense " in the prophe- 
cies. They will hear of no figurative, or spiritual 
interpretation. It must be ad literam^ or it is false. 
And they have zeal and importance in various ways 
to be a very influential party in the literary world, 
although there is one fact rather ominous — ^they 
are not generally men in living sympathy with 
the active and missionary masses in the Church. 
They are either literary men, or popular preachers 
of a certain type, whose aflSnities are more with the 
study and the lamp, than with the busy, practical 
world. This fact may account somewhat for their 
opinions. There is such a thing as looking at the 
eun, until we become blind. So there may be a 
morbid attention to a favorite topic, until the mind 
loses somewhat of its just balance, and cannot 
discern its own errors. Yet some of these men have 
been, and are now, the noblest specimens of earnest- 
ness, and evangelical devotion to the Gospel. It was 
of a chieftain of this class, that the renowned Dr. 
Chalmers, after listening to his discourse on some 
prophetic theme, remarked, with a significant shrug 



THE PROPHECIES. 193 

of the shoulders, " the man has a prodigious imagi- 
nation!" From the experience of the past, we have 
come to suspect this class of interpreters of that 
same capacity. But "sl prodigious imagination" is 
not the best qualification for the interpreter of the 
prophets. A strict and cautious judgment is of 
more real value ; and it is required at every step, in 
the separation of the two great divisions of the ful- 
filled, and the unfulfilled predictions. 

It will be understood that by a fulfilled prophecy 
we mean one that is actually completed, such as the 
coming of Christ, to die for the sins of the world, or 
the return of the Jews from the captivity. There 
are also prophecies in the process of fulfillment, and 
others still whose accomplishment has not yet com- 
menced. These are all to be carefully, and con- 
stantly distinguished from those wholly fulfilled. 

TV. A fourth principle to guide us in the inter- 
pretation of the prophets is, that the Bible itself is 
the proper source of the laws applicable to this 
department of the Sa<jred Volume. 

"We have often heard the idea advanced that the 
key of many of the prophecies is to be discovered 
among the hieroglyphics of Egypt, or of Nineveh, or 
among the ancient ruins of the East. But our belief 
is that this lost key is to be found in the Bible itself. 



1 94 ESTTERPEETATION'. 

This follows from the fundamental maxim that the 
Bible can make plain its own meaning, independent 
of all extrinsic considerations. Beyond all doubt it 
contains the only true and safe principles of pro- 
phetic interpretation. To ascertain these principles, 
we believe the process is this : from the record 
carefully ascertain the contents of the prophecy ; 
note the symbols employed, if any, and their signifi- 
cation as given in the Scriptures ; and finally make 
sure of the time, or age, in which the event, or 
events, are to take place. On all these points the 
Bible is our only reliable source of information. 
Because prophecy having been designed to be 
understood, everything needful to its being under- 
stood has been provided by Divine wisdom in the 
record. An honest purpose, a prayerful heart, a 
discreet and cool judgment and an open Bible, are 
all that we need to ensure a wise and useful inter- 
pretation of these deep mysteries. 

Our position above defined does not exclude the 
use of general history. Indeed, after the close of 
Eevelation, history is the only source within our 
reach, from which we can ascertain the fulfillment 
of many of the prophecies. Here we cannot but 
call attention to the admirable use made by Barnes, 
in his " Notes on Eevelation," of the " History of the 
Decline and Fall of the Eoman Empire." His quo- 



THE PROPHECIES. 195 

tations from Gibbon, as illustrating the predictions 
of John, are very striking. They could not fail to 
throw a very singular light on that wonderful book. 
For granting, as we must, that the book of Revela- 
tion is a comprehensive prediction of the leading 
events in history, from the promulgation of the 
Gospel, to the end of the world, it follows, of course, 
that history must be in fact, nothing more or less 
than the fulfilling of that mysterious book. But 
this is true of all history. It is the fulfillment of the 
prophecies, and therefore must be diligently con- 
sulted in the interpretation of them. 

And here has been one great source of error, in 
the misapplication of history ; sometimes through a 
too precipitate desire of finding a fulfillment, and 
more frequently, perhaps, through a failure to ascer- 
tain the chronology of the prophecy, i. ^., the time, 
or age of the world, in which the completion of the 
prediction chronologically falls. This last point is to 
be ascertained by a careful attention to the events 
predicted, the time from which the prediction begins, 
and the date of its intended end — most essential par- 
ticulars these to the interpreter. 

The prophets, as a general fact, keep strictly in 
their view, the order of time, in which the events 
foretold, will take place ; and to mistake that order 
of time is a most infallible method of going astray. 



196 mTEEPEETATION. 

There is also a similarity of events and their causes 
in different and distant ages of the world, which 
makes it easy to fall into error. Wars, ambition, 
intrigues, pride, revolutions, vice, are everywhere 
alike, as are the sources whence they spring. But 
it ought to be borne in mind, that prophecy has not 
foretold every outburst of vice, nor yet every revo- 
lution, or apostasy from the faith of Christ. To 
ascertain what it has foretold, we must keep our eye 
on the periods within which it has confined itg pre- 
dictions. Events predicted to occur in the first 
century, we must look for in the first century ; and 
should events every way similar occur in the nine- 
teenth, and apparently from the same causes, yet we 
would wrest the Scripture wholly from its design, 
did we insist on applying the prophecy to events for 
which it never was intended. 

Every prophecy has its time and expires with it. 
So also, if a prophecy respect a particular country, 
or region, the fulfillment must be sought for in that 
region and in no other. But in respect to all these 
particulars the Bible is the only competent autho- 
rity, and hence it is in the Bible that we are to seek 
for all the elements of a sound and safe interpreta- 
tion of the prophecies. It has the key of its own 
mysteries. 



THE PROPHECIES. 197 

Y. Another step of essential importance is the 
perusal of the contemporaneous history of the pro- 
phets, in the historical books. 

These books ought to be read and thoroughly 
studied, as the very best possible preparation for the 
work of interpreting the prophets. They develop 
the events out of which the mission of the prophets 
had its rise ; they detail both the occasion of the 
prediction, and the time of its fulfillment. There we 
learn that the prophets were raised up for the emer- 
gencies in which they lived ; that they had a special 
errand to fulfill, and that they actually fulfilled it. 
Their messages therefore, and the visions of futurity 
vouchsafed to them, had an adaptation very close 
and specific to the work on which they came. 
They were not sent to prophecy of the distant 
future, only as that future garve courage and hope 
to the people immediately before them, who heard 
their utterances, and for whose special benefit they 
were sent of God. It is a common error of the 
present day, as it has been of past times, to regard 
the prophets, not as speaking and writing for the 
men of their own day, and of events passing imme- 
diately before them ; but as writing and speaking 
indefinitely and always of the ages to come. TTiis 
error is the parent of many others. There is not a 
prophet on the inspired roll, but who had his special 



193 INTEEPRETATION. 

errand to tlie men of his own generation ; and if the 
distant future and its events were revealed to him, 
it was simply as a motive to repentance, or as a 
cause of hope and joy, to those whom he imme- 
diately addressed. Hence every book of prophecy, 
in the Old Testament, as well as in the ISTew, has its 
special adaptation to its own times. There is no 
understanding of these books, therefore, without 
making ourselves familiar with the history of the 
particular crisis in which they were written. The 
vices that prevailed, the errors of doctrine, the dan- 
gers that threatened the nation, the condition and 
designs of the kingdoms around them, the maturity 
of the Divine purposes at the time in which the 
prophets lived, all these gave a certain coloring to 
the labors, and sentiments, and visions of these mes- 
sengers of God ; so that to neglect the contempora- 
neous history of the prophets is the most certain 
way to misunderstand them altogether. 

"We subjoin a table of the order in which the 
prophets lived, and of the times during which they 
prophesied, so that the corresponding histories in 
Kings and Chronicles may be read along with their 
writings. 



THE PEOPHECIES. 



199 









KINGS OF JUDAH. 


ZINGS OF ISRAEL. 


1 


Jonah 


B. C. 856—784 




Jehu 


2 


Amos 


" 810—785 


Uzziah 


Jeroboam II. 


3 


Hosea 


" 810—725 


Uzziah, Jotham, «fec. 


(( 


4 


Isaiah 


" 810—698 


(( (( 




5 


Joel 


" 810—660 


Manassah 




6 


Micah 


" 758-690 


Jotham, Ahaz, &c. 


Pekah and Ho- 


7 


Nahum 


" 720—698 


Hezekiah 


sea 


8 


Zepbaniah 


" 640—609 


Josiah 




9 


Jeremiah 


" 628-586 


(( 




10 


Habakkuk 


« 612—598 


Jehoiakim 




11 


Daniel 


" 606—534 


The Captivity 




12 


Obadiah 


" 588—583 






13 


Ezekiel 


« 595-536 


Part of the Captivity 




14 


Haggai 


" 520—518 


After the return 




15 


Zechariah 


(( (( u 


U (( 




16 


Malachi 


« 436-397 


(( (( 





VI. Anotlier step in this work, is the careful com- 
parison of parallel prophecies. 

By parallel prophecies we mean the writings of dif- 
ferent prophets, foretelling the same events. Like 
the evangelists, the prophets often traverse the same 
ground, not as copying each other, but as inde- 
pendent witnesses for the truth ; and, therefore, ac- 
cording to a former position, they are the best guides 
to the right understanding of their communications. 
Placed side by side, these parallel prophecies cannot 
fail to throw a strong mutual light on each other. 
What is doubtful or obscure in one, may be plain 
and obvious in another : where one is brief, another 
may be full and satisfactory: where one presents 
only some dark symbol of an event, his successor 
may lead you at once to the event predicted without 
the intervention of a symbol. 



200 mXEEPEETATION. 

The greatest care, of course, will be required in 
making out the list of the parallel prophecies. The 
parallelism must be clearly established. A mere 
resemblance to the language employed will not 
suffice. All the various particulars in each prophecy- 
must be compared, such as time^'place, and object ; 
and the agreement must be evident. Thus, no one 
can institute a comparison between the seventh 
chapter of Daniel and the seventeenth of Revelation, 
without being convinced that they are predictions of 
the same general events. The symbols are similar ; 
the language also, and the results are so entirely alike, 
that we cannot doubt but they describe the same 
historic occurrences. 

This faithful comparison of parallel passages was a 
work, which, according to the title of his book. Dr. 
Keith should have accomplished. He styles it " The 
Harmony of Prophecy.'' But owing to a vicious 
neglect of the chronology of the prophecies, and a sys- 
tem of interpretation destitute of all appearance of 
consistency, he has only confounded all harmony. 
The reader of that work must think the prophets 
hopelessly at variance with each other ; and instead 
of admiring the unity of their predictions, he must 
feel wearied and grieved with their inexplicable per- 
plexities. Such books do incredible injury to the 
cause of Biblical investigation. The impression they 



THE PKOPHECIES. 201 

convey is, that the whole subject is incoherent and 
incapable of comprehension; and this unspeakably 
precious and instructive portion of the Word of God, 
is, therefore, often regarded as repulsive and barren 
in the highest degree, even to many who regard it 
worthy of all faith. 

The number of prophecies unfulfilled, that are 
parallel prophecies, is not great ; the student, there- 
fore, may enter upon this labor, relieved from the 
fear that the undertaking is likely to be very arduous. 
Any common reader of the Bible may accomplish it 
with no other help than the common references to 
parallel texts; and the effort will well repay his 
attention. 

ON THE CALCULATIONS KESPECTINa THE END OF THE 

WOELD. 

All readers of the Bible know that there have 
been, at various times, very strenuous efforts made, 
from certain passages in Daniel and John, to calculate 
the precise year in which the present world is to 
end. The history of these efforts, from the days of 
the apostles until now, would fill many large volumes; 
but whether a recital of all the miserable failures 
that have been made, would prevent the repetition 
of such efforts in time to come, is very doubtful. 

9^ 



202 INTEKPEETATION. 

Only a few years ago, the year and the day were 
confidently fixed when the trumpet should sound, 
and the voice of the Son of God be heard calling the 
world to judgment. It is only as yesterday that the 
eloquent Irving, with saintly and joyous countenance, 
was wont to stand for hours together on his balcony, 
looking towards the east, momentarily expecting to 
see the glorious white throne, and the retinue of 
attending angels, and the ever-blessed Eedeemer 
coming in the glory of the Father, to judge the living 
and the dead. And now another prophet has risen 
up, and by him we are confidently assured, from a 
devout and prayerful study of the prophets, that the 
second coming of Christ, and the end of the present 
system, will probably take place in 1865. The data 
of this and all other similar calculations are found in 
Dan. xii. 11, compared with Eev. xii. 5, and xiii. 18, 
and Eev. xx. 4. 

But by a cursory inspection of these passages, it 
will be seen that any calculation of the year when 
this world shall end, must be very, if not purely, 
arbitrary, inasmuch as there is no direct reference 
to that event in these passages whatever. All that 
the Bible justifies us in believing respecting the ter- 
mination of this present world is, that there is a 
certain grand moral result to be reached in the his- 
tory of our race, a general dispersion of the igno- 



THE PE0PHECIE8. 203 

ranee of men, and a triumpli over the wickedness 
that reigns in the earth ; and that after an extended 
period of peace and holiness, very suddenly and un- 
expectedly, the angel of God will summon both the 
living and the dead to judgment. Then will come 
the end ; the dissolution of this present system, in 
liquid fire, and the final retribution of the last day, 
dispensed in righteousness, by our Lord Jesus 
Christ. 

We cannot follow this topic in all its details ; but 
in the briefest' manner, we shall put on record some 
general remarks for the guidance of the reader : 

1. The data from which calculations are made 
respecting the dissolution of this world, are not clear. 
They are capable of very different applications. 
That they furnish any very reliable grounds, there- 
fore, for accurately fixing the year and day of this 
world's destruction, is more than doubtful. 

2. But that there will be a time in the future, 
when this world in all its families, shall be arrested 
by the voice of the angel of God, proclaiming, that 
time shall be no more, is certain — certain, as any 
future event can be. God has so decreed, both the 
event, and the agency by which it is to be accom- 
plished, and has given the world due warning of it 
in the infallible Oracles of His will. 

3. The coming of such a day has been the unin- 



204: INTEKPEETATION. 

terrnpted belief of all the pions in every age of the 
world, since the beginning. It is implied in the 
very nature of that system of moral government, 
which God has established over man; that system 
cannot be perfected without the positive occurrence 
of just such a day. 

4. The great epochs of the world's history, and 
the moral changes to take place in it, the triumph 
of the Gospel and the overthrow of Satan's kingdom, 
as introductory to the scenes and issues of the last 
day, have been clearly marked out in the prophets, 
both of the Old and the New Testaments. The order 
of these great events can be distinctly and satisfac- 
torily traced, perhaps not to the point of absolute 
certainty as to the year of their commencement, or 
their close, but certainly as far as respects the fact 
and order of their occurrence. And this is enough 
to justify the devout and earnest study of the 
subject, by all who desire to know the fortunes, 
awaiting our world in the flight of future 
years. 

5. All calculations of the times in which these 
great events are to transpire, should be made in a 
cautious and modest spirit, as fully aware of the 
difficulties of the subject, and of the many failures 
that have already been made in respect to them in 
past ages. Many have outlived the year and the day, 



THE PROPHECIES. 205 

which they had confidently foretold as the last day 
of the world. 

6. It is expressly said in Mat. xxiv. 36, " Of that 
day — i,e. the day of final judgment — and of that 
houi', knoweth no man^ no, not the angels of heaven, 
but my Father only." This declaration from our 
Saviour's lips, makes it certain that the prophets 
have not revealed the day of judgment, in any such 
manner as to enable us to fix, with any certainty, the 
year of its occurrence. Our Lord gives us to un- 
derstand, not simply that men and angels do not 
know when it shall be, but that they cannot by any 
means find it out. The data, then, in the prophets 
cannot furnish us with any infallible discoveries on 
the subject. As we have already said, the great 
eras of our world's history they have clearly foretold, 
in their order and issues ; but, if the words of our 
Lord are true, we cannot find out from any source, 
and of course not from the prophets, the precise 
year when this world shall end. 

7. It follows, therefore, that all such calculations 
as those to which we refer are to be viewed with 
suspicion. They are not worthy of our confidence, 
because they rest on no reliable data. Neither do 
they add any new motives to the obligations of a 
holy life. The duties of repentance towards God 
and of faith in Christ, and of a holy life, are not 



206 INTERPEETATION. 

dependent on any sucli events, and never, in the 
Bible, are they urged upon men's hearts on any such 
grounds. This is one of the strongest considerations, 
going to show that such calculations ought never to 
be made. Acts i. 7, "It is not for you to know 
the times or seasons which the Father has put in 
His own power." 

These general principles and directions will render 
the study of the prophets, we are confident, both 
easy and attractive ; and none that pursue this study 
will ever regret the time or labor it may cost them. 
It is an exercise akin to the highest pleasures of 
science. It imparts a comfort to the soul every way 
peculiar; for as we follow the wonderful footsteps 
of the prophet, far down into distant ages, we still 
see a holy G-od on the throne, sin disappearing, and 
holiness becoming more and more the glory of 
the universe. We are carried forward to scenes 
grand and impressive, in which righteousness and 
truth are ever in the ascendant. The problem of 
this world's history is solved ; solved amid the 
anthems of the redeemed, and the praises of infinite 
love. The Gospel is triumphant, and Satan is put to 
shame. Christ is God, and the human heart yields 
to him its steady, its pure afi'ections. "We live and 
rejoice with the good. We anticipate the joys of a 



THE PKOPHECIES. 207 

converted world. Our acquaintancesliip witli the 
generations to come is made a tiling of present 
enjoyment. A heavy burden is taken from our 
hearts; for, the ''lion of the tribe of Judah" has 
opened the mysterious book of the providence of 
God, and we feel how good it is, that God has re- 
vealed the future. There is no study that so cer- 
tainly lifts us above the gloomy depressions incident 
to this brief life, as the study of the prophets, the 
humble, diligent, prayerful tracing on the inspired 
map, the progress of man, the tide of nations, and 
the success of the Gospel of Salvation. 

All other forms of miracle have ceased ; but in 
the prophecies we have a continually unfolding mir- 
acle, to cease only with the end of time. God has 
thus wisely ordained that the evidence of his exis- 
tence and sovereignty over the affairs of men, should 
always be within reach of the devout and the pray- 
erful. This evidence, in this form, was given even 
to our first parents, almost immediately after they 
sinned. Prophecy lifted up the veil of the future 
before their eyes, as an antidote to their fears. And 
ever since that hour, it has been like the bow in the 
cloud, to a suffering, desponding, afflicted Church. 
It is the pledge of her victory, the Divine signal that 
God is with her. 

Shall the prophecies then be neglected? Shall 



208 INTERPKETATION. 

tliey be cast aside as unprofitable ? Shall we say, as 
did Adam Clarke, with an air of profound wisdom, 
of the Book of Revelation : " I do not understand 
the Book," intending thereby to insinuate that it 
cannot be understood, and on this plea excuse our- 
selves from its study ? No. Let us rather consider 
the object of prophecy, and the confidence God has 
placed in us, in committing it so unreservedly to our 
interpretation. This whole department of Sacred 
Scripture is for our benefit ; and all we need, for its 
successful interpretation, is an honest purpose, and a 
prayerful heart, with the blessing of God. "If any 
man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth 
to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall 
be given him." Jas. i. 6. 



ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 209 



CHAPTEE XI. 

ON THE ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS OF THE BIBLE. 

The subject of this chapter does not seem, at the 
first glance, properly to belong to the particular 
design of this treatise ; yet, for various reasons, it is 
very desirable that it should be noticed. In enter- 
ing upon it, somewhat in detail, we shall be contri- 
buting directly to the science of a sound Biblical 
interpretation. Our attention will be occupied with 
matters of fact, rather than tlie general principles, 
by which the sense of Scripture is ascertained ; but 
these principles shall not by any means be lost sight 
of. In the solution of many of the most plausible 
contradictions, alleged to exist in the Bible, sound 
first principles of exegesis, are our only hope. 
Where these fail us, the case is desperate. 

That the writers of the Bible do, in appearance, 
conflict in some of their statements, both with them- 
selves, and with each other, is not to be denied^ 
Hence, the friends of revelation should hold them- 



210 INTERPKETATION. 

selves prepared to explain these apparent contradic 
tions, and defend the Bible, if it can be defended, 
from so grave a charge. When every other species 
of attack has failed, the enemies of the Bible have 
made this their last resort. They have said the 
Bible, by its contradictions, has disproved itself; and 
the daring and diligence of these men have been 
worthy of a better cause. Their success, however, 
has never repaid them for their pains; they have 
found it vastly more easy to bring charges than to 
prove them ; and their gravest charges have very 
often come to nothing in their own hands. Some 
new discovery, or some new improvement in science, 
has defeated their strongest attempts to put the Bible 
in the wrong ; and this has so frequently come to 
pass, that in these days, only one here and there is 
found courageous enough to make an attack, how- 
ever feeble. The Bible, with all its weak points, is 
stronger than its foes. Its real dangers, in our day, 
seem to arise from its ill-advised friends, who make 
an indiscreet defence of its doctrines, supposing there 
is no way so sure to uphold its Divine character, 
as by proving its irreconcilable opposition to all 
human science. 

Adopting, then, a very general classification of the 
alleged contradictions in the Bible, we arrange them 
into the four following classes : 



ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 211 

I. Those whicli are said to occur in statements of 
facts and doctrines. 

II. Those between prophecy, and its fulfillment. 

III. Those against the principles of morality. 
lY. Those at variance with the nature of things, 

or with the natural sciences, astronomy, and geology. 
We propose to notice these alleged contradictions 
somewhat in detail, mainly for the purpose of show- 
ing how all such charges may be disposed of, and 
the consistency and truth of the Bible vindicated. 
We make no pretensions of traversing the whole 
field, nor of repelling every supposed instance of 
contradiction. Such an attempt might occuj)y many 
such volumes as this ; and would be regarded as a 
work too elaborate to be read. 

I. ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS IN FACTS AND DOCTRINES. 

Before proceeding, it may be proper to observe 
that errors in the text of Scripture are, of course, 
to be excepted in this discussion. Such errors 
there may be, in the Bible. It would be nothing 
short of a miracle if there were not. That there 
are such errors in the historical books, there can 
be no doubt ; and that there are some in the 
doctrinal books is a point proved. They occurred 
probably in the process of transcription ; from the 



212 INTERPRETATIOlSr. 

great similarity of many of tlie Hebrew letters ; 
from the oversight of the copiers ; and from the zeal 
of ardent friends. But this admission militates just 
nothing against the veracity of the Bible. It is all 
that we are willing to grant, after the most thorough 
and impartial investigation ; and the whole amount 
of it is, that one writer says, there were so many 
men in a certain army, and so many slain in a cer- 
tain battle, and another says something different; 
or some unimportant word repeating a truth already 
asserted has been added from the margin ; but in all 
cases the original writer was right, and as the case 
now stands, no palpable contradiction can be proved. 
Call to mind the history of the Bible, and if you are 
a competent judge of the purity of its original text, 
you will not be greatly moved at a few trivial mis- 
takes such as have been now described. There is 
no book in existence, so old, with so few variations 
in its text. It therefore defies the inspection of the 
world. Indeed, infidels turn away in haste from 
any attempt to prove it corrupt. This they have 
learned to do from experience. 

The efforts of critics on the text of the Bible are 
thus correctly set forth by a modern writer : — 

" As to the Old Testament, the indefatigable 
investigations and the four folios of Father Houbi- 
gant, the thirty years' labor of John Henry Michse- 



ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 213 

lis ; above all, the great critical Bible, and the ten 
years' study of the famous Kennicott (upon his five 
hundred and eighty-one Hebrew MSS.), and finally, 
the collection of the six hundred and eighty MSS. of 
Prof. Eossi ; as to the IsTew Testament, the not less 
gigantic investigations of Mill, Bengel, Wetstein, 
and Griesbach (into the three hundred and thirty- 
five MSS. of the Gospels alone), the later researches 
of ITolan, Matthei, Lawrence, and Hug ; above all, 
those of Scholz (with his six hundred and seventy- 
four MSS. of the Gospels, his two hundred MSS. of 
the Acts, his two hundred and fifty-six MSS. of Paul's 
Epistles, his ninety-three MSS. of the Apocalypse, 
without counting his fifty-three Lectionaria) ; all 
these prodigious labors have established, in a man- 
ner so convincing, the astonishing preservation of the 
text, although copied so many thousand times (in 
Hebrew, during thirty-three centuries, and in Greek 
during eighteen centuries), that the hopes of the 
enemies of religion from this quarter have been 
overthrown; and that, as Michaelis remarks, ^they 
have thenceforward ceased to hope anything from 
these critical researches, at first earnestly recom- 
mended by them, because from them they expected 
discoveries which no one has made.' " 

To proceed then with the subject of this chapter : 
it is alleged that Gen. xxii. 1, "God did tempt 



214 INTERPEETATION. 

Abraham," contradicts Jas. i. 13, " God cannot be 
tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man." 
"We admit that, as far as words go, the contradiction 
is very striking. But a contradiction in words is not 
of necessity a contradiction in sense. The former is 
harmless; the latter is not proved. The circum- 
stances in which the two statements were made, 
show yery clearly that in sense they do not differ. 
Moses says — " God tempted Abraham ;" and the 
history shows what he means. He means that 
Abraham's faith was put to the test ; but to consti- 
tute a temptation, in the bad sense of the word, 
reference must be had to the motive by which it is 
dictated. God did not design to lead the patriarch 
into sin ; Moses did not design to say that he did. 
James is treating of the origin of sin, and he traces 
it very correctly to the " lust " or will of the sinner 
himself. In the course of his argument, he says 
God is not to be charged with the origin of sin, " for 
God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth 
he any man ;" i, ^., he does not intentionally set 
motives before men, for the purpose of leading them 
into sin. " But every man is tempted," says James, 
" when he is drawn away of his own lust and 
enticed." Thus the meaning of Moses is actually in 
harmony with that of James; God proved Abra- 
ham's faith, and every man is tempted when he is 



ALLEGED CONTEADICTIONS. 215 

drawn away of his own Inst and enticed." The con- 
tradiction is only in sound, and arises from the use 
of the word " tempt " by both writers, in a slightly 
modified sense, easily discovered from the circum- 
stances of the case. 

Of the same nature is a supposed contradiction 
between 2 Sam. xxiv. 1, " The Lord moved David 
to number Israel and Judah," and 1 Chron. xxi. 1, 
" Satan stood up and provoked David to number 
Israel." In reply we remark, this is only one of a 
great many instances in which various causes are 
said to meet in the production of the same events. 
Thus God is said to have hardened the heart of 
Fharaoh, and Pharaoh is said to have hardened his 
own heart ; the priests are said to have bought the 
potter's field with the thirty pieces of silver, and 
Judas is said to have bought the field : Solomon is 
said to have built the Temple, and yet he only hired 
Hiram to build : God is said to have delivered 
Lot from Sodom, and yet Lot escaped in the use of 
his own feet : Paul is said to have begotten, or con- 
verted the Corinthians, and yet the Spirit of God 
alone converts the soul. Now the simple and satis- 
factory explanation of all these seeming contradic- 
tions is — the writers at the moment had not their 
thoughts directed to the same causes, as immediately 
preceding, or giving birth to the events narrated. 



216 INTEEPRETATION". 

Every effect, or event, has many antecedent causes, 
either more or less remote; and sometimes one is 
specified, and sometimes another. But, it is in vain 
to say there is any contradiction in such cases. Let 
those who bring the charge, define what a contra- 
diction is, and then let them establish an instance, if 
they can, in which any such thing occurs^ in all the 
inspired Yolume. 

The words of our Saviour, Jno. v. 37, " Ye have 
neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His 
shape," are regarded as opposed to Jno. xiv. 9, and 
Deut. iv. 12, " He that hath seen me hath seen my 
Father ;" " Ye heard the voice of the words." But 
as before, all depends on the meaning of the separ- 
ate texts ; and that is to be ascertained by the con- 
text, the object of the writer, and the nature of the 
subject on which he is speaking. In the first, the 
context shows that our Lord charges the people with 
resisting the manifestation of the will of God. He 
does this in peculiar language ; but his hearers no 
doubt perfectly understood him. He says they had 
neither seen nor heard God. This was literally true ; 
it was not in a literal sense, however, that he wished 
to be understood. He was charging them with diso- 
bedience ; and it is this fact he intends to bring home 
to them, when he says, " Ye have neither heard His 
voice, nor seen His shape." They had been a diso- 



ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 217 

bedient, blind people, under all dispensations, tbey 
bad disregarded the means which God had taken to 
sanctify and save them. But when it is said, " He 
that hath seen me, hath seen my Father," the 
meaning is not in the words ; it turns, as before, on 
the fact of their disobedience. He that obeys me, 
obeys my Father, is the sentiment enforced. There 
is, therefore, no contradiction here. 

A similar instance is said to occur in Jno. v. 31, 
" If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true," 
compared with Jno. viii. 14, " Though I bear witness 
of myself, yet my witness is true." The Jews them- 
selves, who heard our Lord on both occasions, charged 
Him with inconsistency. But unjustly. In the first 
He means to say, that if He alone bore testimony to 
His Messiahship, then His claims must needs be false ; 
for whoever might be the real Messiah, would cer- 
tainly have other witnesses of the fact beside him- 
self. In the second passage. He designs to say, though 
He did alone bear witness of His claims, yet they 
were true. There is no contradiction in these state- 
ments. If a man could bring no evidence but his 
own word for his honesty, that alone would not 
prove it ; yet a man might be strictly honest, though 
he himself should affirm it. This is all that our 
Lord meant to say. The language of our Lord, 
Mat. V. 34, is said to be at variance with Heb. vi. 16. 

10 



218 mTERPRETATIOIf. 

In the latter passage, Paul says : " An oath for con- 
firmation is to them an end of all strife," as though 
he gave his sanction to oaths. Granting that he 
does sanction oaths, there is no contradiction between 
him and our Lord ; for the latter does not refer to 
anything but profane swearing, or taking the name 
of God in vain. His language is, "Swear not at 
all." But this does not forbid the appeal to God in 
a court of justice. 

Once more : 1 Jno. ii. 20, " But ye have an unc- 
tion from the Holy One, and ye know all things," is 
supposed to contradict Mat. xxiv. 36, in which it is 
affirmed, that no man knows the day of judgment. 
But when John says, "Ye know all things," his mean- 
ing is to be gathered from the connection. He 
means simply to say that they were fully acquainted 
with the character of Christ and the doctrines of the 
Gospel. He did not surely mean to assert that they 
were Omniscient. 

Finally, it has often been alleged that the different 
accounts of the resurrection of Christ are contradic- 
tory. But, in reply, we aver in one sentence, that 
all such pretences are wholly without foundation. 
Our twelfth preliminary axiom forestalls all such 
allegations. Omission is not misstatement ; and addi- 
tional testimony is not of necessity conflicting testi- 
mony. 



ALLEGED CONTEADICTIOKS. 219 

The above instances may serve as a specimen of 
alleged contradictions under our first head. That of 
Paul and James has been reconciled under our 8th 
general rule. 

n. ALLEGED CONTEADICTIONS BETWEEN PKOPHECIES AJSTD 
THEIR FULFILLMEl^T. 

Of these there are but few brought forward. For 
our enemies here have found rather a barren field. 
But they must needs quote Jonah iii. 4, " Yet forty 
days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed." But the 
condition of this threatening was, that if the city 
repented within the forty days, it should not be des- 
troyed. Nineveh did repent ; it was spared, and the 
prophecy was fulfilled. It would also have been 
fulfilled, if the people had remained impenitent, and 
the city had been destroyed. 

Another instance is said to be in respect to our 
Lord's remaining in the grave. The fact is admitted 
that in the prophecy three days and three nights are 
specified ; and that our Lord was in the grave only 
one whole day, and parts of two. He was laid in 
the sepulchre towards evening of the first. He re- 
mained there all the second ; and arose early on the 
morning of the third. In the common usage of the 
country, however, this was understood to be three 



220 mrERPRETATioisr. 

days. Hence the prophecy was fulfilled in the 
estimation of the generation to whom it was 
given. 

Jer. xxxiii. 20, is supposed to be an example. It 
reads : " If ye can break my covenant of the day, 
and my covenant of the night, and that there should 
not be day and night in their season ; then may also 
my covenant be broken with David my servant, that 
he should not have a son to reign upon his throne." 
"What has become of this prophecy? asks our ob- 
jector. Where is the king on the throne these 1800 
years? We reply, Jesus, of the seed of David 
according to the flesh, is the King of Israel, and he 
is on the throne for ever, and shall reign for ever and 
ever. 

If, by way of a rejoinder, it be said that Jeremiah 
did not intend to foretell the kingship of Christ, we 
might grant the fact; and yet our position would 
remain immovable. For it does not belong essen- 
tially to the nature of a prophecy, that the prophet 
himself fully understood all that his words imply. 
Daniel states expressly that he understood not the 
vision of the ram and the goat ; and a special mes- 
senger was sent to cause him to understand the 
things which were about to befall his people in the 
latter days. In the last vision, he says : " I heard, 
but I understood not." It is enough that the pro- 



ALLEGED CONTRADICTIOKS. 221 

phecy is intelligible as a Divine prediction, and be 
fully realized and made complete in the events of 
history. Snch is the fact with the prophecy above 
mentioned. To its every letter it has been fulfilled 
in Jesus Christ. 

As we have already said, this has proved rather a 
barren field for objectors. Every successive charge 
has led to a renewed investigation, and that to a new 
victory on the part of the Bible. The exact fulfill- 
ment of the prophecies has been very much like the 
miracles of Moses in Egypt. Those seeking to dis- 
prove the Divine mission of the Bible, have very 
frequently felt constrained to cry out : " this is the 
finger of God?" The prophecy once pronounced, 
has remained on the imperishable record, till in due 
time, the event has proclaimed the manifest inter- 
position of God. Whether for a day, or a month, or 
a year, or a thousand years, it has calmly waited its 
issue. No accident has prevented the result; no 
conspiracy of men, nor malice of devils, has sufficed 
to defeat it. At the set time, it has been fulfilled 
with an evident certainty, which belongs only to the 
Divine purposes. Prophecy, as an argument in 
behalf of the Bible, may be compared to one of the 
great Pyramids. It cannot be removed by the 
effi)rts of an ant. Its mighty structure will not 
come down, at the bidding of him, who merely dis- 



222 INTEKPEETATION. 

lodges, as he thinks, a brick here and there from the 
outer wall. It shall stand till the last trumpet shake 
the world, and call the universe to judgment. 

in. ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS OF THE PEINCIPLES 
OF MORALITY. 

Of this class, the enemies of the Bible, in their 
own estimation, have discovered a very great num- 
ber ; the command to sacrifice Isaac ; the command 
given to borrow from the Egyptians ; the extirpation 
of the Canaanites ; the vow of Jephthah ; the treat- 
ment of the Ammonites by David, and David's 
wicked conduct in the case of Uriah, and many 
others. 

The command to offer Isaac, was given merely as 
a test of character, and as such, involved no contra- 
diction to the principles of morality. God as Crea- 
tor, and Proprietor of all, was competent to give 
such a command, for such a purpose, as truly as He 
is competent to send an earthquake, or a famine, or 
a pestilence, to take away human life, without injus- 
tice to men. Of the same nature was the command 
to exterminate the Canaanites; and therefore, the 
same general reply is given. It were easy, indeed, 
to show that, instead of conflicting with the principles 
of good morals, it was a purely benevolent measure. 



ALLEQED CONTKADIOllONS. 223 

It was a command to destroy a horde of robbers, a 
hopelessly depraved and wicked people; and the 
sword of Israel was as truly a friend to mankind, in 
that tragedy, as the sword of the magistrate, when 
unsheathed to defend society against social -evil, or 
the arm of the invader. 

The Jews were instructed by Moses to ask rai- 
ment and jewels from the Egyptians, which they 
never returned. The Egyptians lent to the Jews 
what they asked. But equity decides that all they 
thus received was in effect but a poor compensation 
for the long years of bondage unrequited, spent 
tinder their oppressors. 

The' case of Jephthah's daughter will not give the 
objector any great advantage. It cannot be proved 
that he sacrificed his daughter ; and if it could be so 
proved, there is no evidence that the Bible approves 
of any such sacrifices. 

Exod. XX. 6, is quoted as one instance in which 
there is a palpable contradiction of some other 
Scriptures, and of the principles of justice. The pas- 
sages contradicted are, Jer. xxxi. 30, and Ezek. xviii. 
20. The words in Exodus are : " for I the Lord thy 
God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the 
fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth 
generations of them that hate me." This visiting the 
sins of the fathers upon the children is declared 



224: INTEEPRETATION. 

nnjnst, and contrary to other Scriptures, whicli assert 
that the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father. 
But the whole objection arises in a mistake. The 
visitation is upon those who hate God, and not on 
the innocent, consequently, instead of contradicting 
the above Scriptures, it is in fact, only another asser- 
tion of the principle which they contain, viz. : " the 
soul that sinneth, it shall die," or every soul shall 
bear, his own iniquity. 

The treatment of the Ammonites by David, men- 
tioned in 1 Chron. xx. 3, be it noted, is not in any 
sense justified in the narrative. If he were therefore 
really guilty of inhumanity, his fault is not to be 
charged on the Bible. But it is a matter of doubt, 
whether, in this instance, our English translation has 
faithfully rendered the original. The Hebrew would 
justify the statement that the captives were put 
simply to the sawing of timber, and the drudgery 
of the brick-kilns, and the labors of the field. 
Cruelty was not a trait of David's character. 

As respects the conduct of David towards Uriah, 
it is recorded, even in the public annals of his life, 
accompanied with the reproof of a special messen- 
ger, and with the judgment of God threatened upon 
his household. It is not therefore approved, but 
pointedly condemned, and consequently, no objection 
on this score, can lie against the Bible. 



ALLEGED CONTKADICTIONS. 225 

Many of the Psalms of David have been denounced 
as totally inconsistent with benevolence. But some 
of these very denunciations violate the law of morals 
they would enforce on the Psalmist. If the general 
benevolence of David's heart be called in question, 
we have a word to say in its defence. Look at his 
conduct towards Saul for forty years; Saul being, 
during all these forty years, his mortal enemy. Can 
the world produce another such instance of magna- 
nimity towards an enemy ? Saul was several times 
in David's power; David spared him, and in all 
these forty years, uttered not a syllable of revenge 
towards the man, who thirsted for his life. Is not 
this proof of a benevolent heart ? Look at his sen- 
timents recorded in his Psalms, without the faintest 
tinge of anything of the nature of misanthropy. In 
the particular Psalms referred to, there is not a syl- 
lable but what is implied or expressed in the wishes 
and prayers of every good man, that the laws of 
God, and of the State, may be maintained, and the 
wicked punished. Is there any offence done against 
morality, in wishing that the thief, the adulterer, the 
murderer, and the man-stealer, may be brought to 
condign punishment ? Is it a violation of the law 
of benevolence to express such wishes in Sacred 
song? What then shall be said of many of the most 
popular poems on liberty, and patriotism ? Must 

10^ 



226 INTEEPEETATION. 

these also be condemned? But David's Psalms are 
of the same character, in principle, with the best of 
these patriotic compositions ; having this additional 
circumstance in their favor, that the j are dictated by 
Divine benevolence, and without the least mixture 
of ill-will, or inhumanity towards any living being. 
This is true of the judge, who, for the public good, 
condemns the criminal to death. How much more, 
is it true of the man of God, who speaks as he is 
moved by the Spirit, when he prays that the wicked 
may not escape the sentence of the law? 

It has been objected that both true and false pro- 
phets have been sent forth, under the Divine sanc- 
tion ; and that miracles have been recorded, as 
wrought both by the friends and the enemies of the 
Bible. In respect to the latter charge, we reply, 
while the record, for instance, of miracles wrought 
by the magicians of Egypt is admitted, we do not 
admit the fact that miracles were wrought by these 
astrologers. The artlessness of the record might 
lead us to suppose that miracles were wrought, but 
nothing more is intended by it, than to convey the 
fact that the magicians attempted to work miracles ; 
and in some way prevailed for a time on Pharaoh to 
believe that they did. The character of God and 
the nature of the case, require us to believe that 
none but true miracles were wrought. This is, 



ALLEGED CONTEADICTIONS. 227 

nevertheless, certain, there was a point beyond which, 
the jugglery of the magicians did not succeed ; but 
if they failed in one case they must have failed in 
all. Did Moses, or any other heaven-sent ambassa- 
dor fail in any instance ? Never. 

In respect to false prophets, reference is made to 
1 Kings, xxii. 23, "Now, therefore, the Lord hath 
put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy pro- 
phets." But this is just the old and often-answered 
objection, that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. God 
is said to do just what the false prophets do; in 
what sense this is said, it is quite easy for us to 
understand. The people and the false prophets per- 
verted the means which God was employing for their 
sanctification ; for this He gave them up to the de- 
sires of their own hearts, just as He did the king of 
Egypt. In this sense He gave them a lying spirit. 
In a like sense He " creates all things for Himself, 
yea, even the wicked for the day of evil." That is, 
all things are created for the glory of God, and they 
will of course subserve that purpose ; yea, even the 
wicked themselves will subserve that purpose. But 
this is not to say that God is the author of evil ; or, 
that He takes any pleasure in sin ; or, prefers the aid 
of false prophets and wicked men, in the govern- 
ment of the world. 

Another objection has been that various passages 



228 INTERPRETATION. 

speak of God as repenting, while others represent 
Him as of one mind and incapable of repentance. 
Thus, Gen. yi. 6, " It repented the Lord that He had 
made man on the earth." And Num. xxiii. 19, 
" God is not man that He should lie ; neither the son 
of man that He should repent." 

This difficulty, if difficulty it be, involves the 
question, whether God, as an uncreated and eternal 
being, has feelings and emotions such as men have ? 
It is enough for our purpose that the language of 
the Bible represents Him as possessed of like emo- 
tions with men, such as grief, joy, disappointment, 
compassion, and repentance, or change of mind. In 
other words. He is not absolutely emotionless and 
without feelings ; yet, at the same time, when feel- 
ings and emotions are ascribed to Him, it must be in 
harmony with His infinite and glorious perfections. 
The passage in Genesis describes a fact in the Divine 
mind ; God was grieved with the wickedness of men. 
Who can deny it ? What, then, is the meaning of 
the passage in Numbers xxiii. 19? We reply, it 
also asserts a fact respecting the Divine nature, viz. 
— its immutability. With Jehovah there is of a 
truth no variableness, nor shadow of turning, such 
as is common to man. And yet grief in the Divine 
mind, when sin occurs, is a fact not to be denied. 
But this feeling of grief and His immutability are 



ALLEGED CONTKADICTIONS. 229 

entirely compatible. He is angry with the wicked 
every day ; and He is of one mind, and repenteth 
not. His purposes are the same from eternity to 
eternity. This results from the nature of God, and 
hence the language is entirely consistent and truth- 
ful. It describes facts and states in the Divine 
mind, as they are, in a manner perfectly intelligible ; 
and all just objection is thus removed. 

It yet remains that we consider the alleged contra- 
dictions of the Bible to natural science ; but this we 
defer to the next chapter. 



IV. ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS OF THE NATURE OF THINGS, 
OR OF THE NATURAL SCIENCES, IN THE BIBLE. 



It has been the rash affirmation of infidels, that 
the Bible and modern science are totally irreconcila- 
ble. Their argument has been very brief, and, in 
their view, very effective : " natural science, so-called, 
is all true; the Bible contradicts natural science; 
therefore, the Bible is not true, and not true, it is 
not from God." 

But one thing is certain ; to go no further back 
than the last twenty-five years, those who have ad- 
vanced this syllogism have not increased, but mar- 
vellously diminished, in number; so that at the 
present moment, the noblest names of science pub- 



230 INTERPRETATION. 

licly avow their belief, that not one scientific error 
of any kind is fonnd in all the Bible. Tea, the 
majority of scientific men are committed to this 
position ; and the minority may dispose of this fact 
as they can. Will they dispose of it by denying 
the competency of their associates in science ? 

The supposed contradictions are said to refer 
chiefly to the natural science — astronomy and 
geology. Alas ! that any friend of the Bible should 
wish to have these contradictions proven. Nothing 
is more certain than the fact, that the Word of God 
is, and ever must be, in perfect harmony with all 
true natural science. An inspired book, and that 
the Bible is such, is a point proved, cannot contra- 
dict existing facts in the natural world. Was there 
any mystery of science too deep for the Divine 
Spirit, or, could there be any motive for His failing 
to direct the sacred penmen infallibly, in things 
which lay infinitely more clear in his mind, than 
they ever did, or can lie, in the minds of all the 
scientific and mortal men that ever lived, or that 
ever will live upon earth ? 

ASTRONOMY. 

As respects astronomy, it has been objected that 
the writers of the Bible did not entertain the modern 



ALLEGED CONTRADICTIO]S'S. 231 

views of this science ; that they regarded the heavens 
as moving round the earth, and the earth as a vast 
extended plain. We admit such were their senti- 
ments. They were wholly ignorant of modern 
astronomy. But the question is not as to their igno- 
rance or their knowledge. It is, do they in their 
writings contradict any of the facts of this science ? 
And we reply, it has never been proved that they 
do. They wrote according to the knowledge they 
had ; they knew jnst what they saw of natm*al phe- 
nomena ; and they never pretended to know more than 
they actually did know. Yet there is not in all their 
writing a solitary sentence at variance with the facts 
of modern astronomy. Ps. civ. 5 is quoted, as one pas- 
sage in which they absolutely contradict this science : 
" God hath laid the foundations of the earth, that it 
should not be removed forever." ISTow it is admitted 
that the foolish priests, who threatened Galileo, the 
astronomer, with death for his discoveries, did think 
this text contrary to modern astronomy. But when 
we correctly interpret the passage, we find it simply 
a description of a fact, viz., the felt stability of the 
world. David expresses what he feels ; just as any 
poet of our day might have done, without being sus- 
pected for a moment of teaching things opposed to 
the true science of the heavens. To say, popularly, 
that the earth is steadfast and immovable, that the 



232 INTERPRETATION. 

sun rises and sets, that the stars go down in the west, 
is not to oppose science. It is to describe events as 
they are seen by the eye ; and this is all the contra- 
diction the Bible can be charged with. Astrono- 
mers themselves speak of *^ fixed stars;" when they 
profess to know that they are not fixed, bnt 
moving, like all the other starry bodies of the 
heavens. 

There is no other passage in the Bible, save that 
above referred to, and its equivalents, that was ever 
supposed to be at variance with astronomy; or if 
there be more, we know them not. For lack of 
material in this department, an argument against 
the Bible has been framed from astronomy, as 
though these two must if possible be set in array 
against each other. The argument is put in this 
form : seeing there is such an immensity of worlds, 
and this world is positively so small, compared with 
many others, and as nothing compared with the 
great whole, the Bible cannot be divine, because 
this world must be beneath the notice of God, it is 
so amazingly small. 

Let it be remembered, in this instance, that 
science so called is the aggressor, and is responsible 
for the aggression. The Bible itself teaches the 
exceeding littleness of this world and of all its 
inhabitants ; but it also teaches that God created 



ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 233 

them all ; that He cares for them with fatherly ten- 
derness ; yea, that the Son of God, God manifest in 
the flesh, suffered death as a sacrifice for sin, so that 
the penitent might be saved. Now if science con- 
tradicts all this, let it produce its authority or be 
silent. Reason certainly teaches that God created 
the world, and men of science generally confess as 
much ; but if He created it. He can care for it. Its 
amazing littleness can be no hindrance in His way. 
It is small — ^very small, as the dust of His chariot 
wheels ; yet this does not disprove His care and con- 
descension towards it ; and it does not prove that He 
cannot give a revelation of His will to its inhabi- 
tants. 

The science that would reject the Bible on such 
grounds, seems to proceed on the principle that 
mind is of no peculiar importance, hardly worth the 
Divine recognition ; and that matter is all impor- 
tant, if there be only enough of it. Is this science ? 
Is not one mind, one soul, though it cannot be 
weighed or measured, of more value than a thou- 
sand such material globes as this ? This superior 
w^orth or dignity of the soul is the basis of all the 
dignity, as well as the certainty, which belongs to 
science. What were science w^ithout the soul? 
They imply each other ; and whatever of glory, or 
of shame, falls to the one, falls also to the other. So 



234 IKTEEPKETATION. 

that of all nnseemly acts of suicide, the most un- 
seemly is that of a man of science seeking to cut off 
the soul from the voice and consolations of its 
Creator and friend, as expressed in the Scriptures. 
AH such acts are without excuse. But true science 
never attempts any such acts. What nobler name 
in astronomy can be named, than Isaac Newton ; 
and yet his great genius consecrated itself to an 
abiding faith in the Scriptures as divine ; so that 
having scaled the heavens and pointed out the true 
philosophy of the stars, thenceforth, he gave himself 
to the exposition of the Word of God, drinking out 
of its fountains all the way to the end of his life, and 
leaving behind him the testimony that the beginning 
of all science was the fear of God and faith in 
His inspired Word. Out of the depths of the 
starry heavens, he brought forth clearer evidence of 
the being and attributes of Jehovah, believing with 
the Psalmist, that " the heavens declare the glory of 
God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork." 
A wise astronomer will be the last man to call in 
question these sentiments ; the objections of an 
undevout astronomer are not worthy of any very 
great regard. 

But very little interest does this alleged contradic- 
tion between the Bible and astronomy now excite. 
The faith of Christendom is calmly resting in the 



\ 

f 

ALLEGED C0NTKADICTI0N3. 235 

fact, that this science and the Word of God are 
at one. 

GEOLOGY. 

It is geology, which, at this moment, is only 
emerging into something like order, that many sup- 
pose to be so irreconcilable with revelation. Some 
friends of the Bible vainly labor to establish the fact, 
unconscious of the mischief they are producing. 

Let us first of all ascertain the well substantiated 
facts of geology ; that we may compare therewith 
the simple historical statements of the Bible. If 
there is any palpable contradiction between the two, 
it will certainly appear. 

In grouping together, at one view, the principal 
facts in geology, we avail ourselves of the labors of 
one, whose name is a suflBcient guarantee of correct- 
ness and candor ; Edward Hitchcock, D.D. In 
his original and deeply-interesting work — " The 
Religion of Geology " — he states the cardinal facts 
of this science, briefly as follows : 

I. The rocks forming the crust of our globe 
appear to have been the result of second causes. 

n. The same general laws seem always to have 
prevailed on om' globe, and to have controlled its 
changes. 



236 INTERPKETATION. 

III. The changes which the earth has undergone, 
appear to have been the result of the same agencies, 
heat and water. 

lY. The present continents have for a long period 
formed the bottom of the ocean. 

y. The internal parts of the earth are in fusion, 
and possess a very high degree of heat. 

YI. The rocks which contain animals and plants, 
are not less than six or seven miles in thickness, and 
are composed of many layers of different kinds ; and 
must have occupied in their formation an immense 
period of time. 

YII. The remains of animals and plants are not 
found in confusion, but for the most part in very 
regular order, as though they had lived and died 
where they are found. 

YIII. About five different distinct races of these 
animals and plants seem to have existed and passed 
away before the creation of the races which now 
occupy the earth. 

IX. In the earliest times in which animals and 
plants lived, the climate over the whole globe seems 
to have been warm, warmer than it is now between 
the tropics. 

X. There is good reason to suppose that the earth 
underwent many changes before the existence of 
animals and plants. 



ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 237 

XI. Tlie present condition of the earth seems of 
recent origin. 

Xn. Among the 30,000 species of animals and 
plants found in the rocks, very few living species 
have been observed; and these few, in the most 
recent rocks. In the secondary rocks, not a single 
species now existing has been discovered. 

Xrn. The surface of the earth has undergone an 
enormous amount of erosion by the action of the 
ocean, rivers, and the atmosphere. 

XIV. Northern regions as well as Southern have 
been swept over and abrased by ice and water ; the 
force in general being towards the equator. 

XY. Since this last period, the ocean has been 
some thousands of feet above its present level in 
many countries. 

XVI. Some parts of the world are now being 
changed, some places are sinking, and others rising. 

XVn. Every change of importance seems to have 
been an improvement, fitting it for beings of a higher 
organization. 

Finally, the present races of animals and plants 
are disposed in groups in districts, beyond whose 
limits they usually droop and die. 

Here then we have a full and intelligible exposi- 
tion of the main facts in the science of geology, the 
result of long study and enlightened observation. 



238 INTEEPRETATION. 

No doubts can be raised as to its general correct- 
ness. We accept it, as one of the most reliable 
statements of the science, and are not unwilling to 
confront with it the records of inspiration. If such 
be the history of the framework of the earth, written 
in the process of ages, on the surface of the earth, 
sure are we that the history given in the Bible, 
under the guidance of the Spirit of God, will not in 
any case contradict it. He, by whom the Bible 
was written, directed and completed every change 
through which the globe has passed from the first 
hour of its existence ; and, therefore, he was compe- 
tent to secure a record in every respect true to the 
facts in the case. 

The general conclusions, then, -to which the above 
facts conduct us, are, that long before man existed, 
and long before the animals now found on our globe 
were created, the solid framework of our planet was 
in existence ; and after a long succession of periods 
and ages, the various classes of living creatures, 
whose remains have been discovered, were created 
and occupied the earth in their turn ; till by the 
depression of the seas and other causes, they perished 
and were imbedded in the places w^here we now find 
them. Thus the earth was prepared for man ; and 
he, and the other animals and plants now existing, 
were created, and all things arranged in their 



ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 239 

present order. This is geology, and we believe it 
all. 

But what is the Bible's account of creation, and 
how does it differ from that of geology ? 

The first announcement of Scripture is, "In the 
beginning, God created the heavens, and the earth." 
This certifies to the fact of creation. The universe 
is not an accident, nor a growth, nor a development 
of any kind — in its elements, it is a creation, called 
into being by the voice of the Almighty. Against 
this, geology has nothing to say, but to assent. The 
second general statement of Scripture is, that after the 
event of creation, the earth was " without form and 
void," by which we understand it was not in the con- 
dition of order and beauty, in which we now find it. 
Here also, geology is agreed. According to its 
teachings, there was a vast period, or succession of 
periods, in which desolation reigned over the globe ; 
and this we regard as a most singular confirmation 
of Scripture. 

The third step in the inspired record, is the break- 
ing up of this chaos, or desolation, through the 
agency of the Spirit. How long it was before this 
was accomplished, or by what physical processes, is 
not in the Bible affirmed. But geology admits the 
fact of this breaking up, and places no precise limits 



24:0 INTERPRETATION. 

to the times in which it was achieyed. Thus far, 
therefore, the two authorities are fully agreed. 

In due time, however, the present order of things 
began in our world ; at a date, in round numbers, 
from the present time, about six thousand of our 
years. And such, also, is the definitive decision of 
geology ; and here again is a remarkable confirma- 
tion of the Scriptures. As we interpret the record, 
during the first day of the present world, or order 
of the world, the dense atmosphere of vapor that 
surrounded the globe, became rarified, and the face 
of the sky partially cleared ; the light of the sun 
could have been perceived by the human eye. On 
the second day, the waters were gathered chiefly into 
their present positions ; and the dry land appeared, 
as we now find it ; and the seeds and plants peculiar 
to it were created; all this was on the third day. 
On the fourth day, the sky was wholly clear, reveal- 
ing the sun and stars, as we now see them, appointed 
from the first, to be for lights upon earth. JSText 
came the various fishes, and fowls, and creeping 
things, now existing. On the sixth day, came man, 
the crowning work of Creation, made in the image 
of God, to have dominion over all the earth, and to 
have fellowship with his heavenly Father. All this 
work of ordering, and peopling our world, as it is 



ALLEGED CONTKADICTIONS. 241 

now, according to the Bible, was accomplished in the 
space of six days. So we interpret the first chapter 
of Genesis, whose language faithfully describes the 
events of the period, as these events would have 
seemed to occur to a human spectator. Such a 
description, the inspired writer meant to give, we 
finnly believe ; and such is the impression left on the 
unbiased reader of all ages, seeking to know the 
meaning of the Word of God. If was designed for 
all generations to come ; and a truthful history it is. 
God would not mock the world with a myth, or a 
fable, at the very outset of His Inspired Yolume. 
They, who labor in this nineteenth century, for the 
first time, to show that Moses meant by the six days 
a long series of periods, of thousands of years, and 
that the seventh day is not an ordinary day, but the 
present seven thousand years since the ceasing of 
creation, have undertaken an enterprise that will 
prove too much for them. Moses, in the fourth 
commandment, affirms the seventh day to be a day 
of the ordinary length, like all the six ; and this he 
affirms of the first Sabbath. This affirmation is final, 
both as to the theory we have adopted, and the 
errors of that theory of which we now speak. Cer- 
tainly every principle of correct interpretation 
obliges us to receive the account in Genesis as the 
account of events occurring during seven days. 



242 INTEEPRETATION. 

And geology has no data to contravert the fact. It 
cannot prove that the present order of things could 
not have been arranged within that period. It says 
the solid crust of the earth mnst have been in exis- 
tence for a very long period before man was created. 
So let it be ; the Bible contains not one word to the 
contrary. It says there must have been many dis- 
tinct races of animals and plants in existence, pre- 
vious to those we now behold. So let it be; the 
Bible contains not one word to the contrary. It 
says these various races must have been destroyed 
by the breaking up of the earth^s crust, by depres- 
sions of the seas, and earthquakes, and similiar 
causes. So let it be ; the Bible saith not one word to 
the contrary, and silence is not contradiction. Any 
former state of things on this globe may have con- 
sumed thousands of years in completing itself; there 
is certainly nothing to hinder us from believing this, 
so far as the Bible is concerned. But what is any 
fact of that sort, to the question in hand ? What 
force is there in it, to impeach the veracity of the 
Bible, as it stands? None, whatever. The Bible 
aflSrms that all things in heaven and earth were not 
developed, but created ; that they are not a growth, 
nor an accident in any sense ; and that after their 
creation, chaos reigned ; but how long it reigned is 
not said, because it is really of no practical impor- 



ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 2i3 

tance for any man to know. In due time, however, 
cliaos and all its changes gave place to the system 
and order we now behold ; and at this point, Moses 
begins his history. It was the right point for all 
practical purposes. We must be careful to note that 
Moses does not affirm that all things were created 
expressly in the period of six days, just six thousand 
years ago. It was in the beginning, that all things 
in their elements were created : but the creation of 
man, and the earth's present inhabitants, both 
according to the Bible and geology, took place about 
that period. In this, therefore, both revelation and 
science are agreed. But let the age of the crust of 
the world be what it may, and suj)pose as many 
races of plants and animals differing from those now 
existing, as yon please, to live and die, before man 
was created, geology, and the Bible also, teaches 
that God created and directed all. And if the Bible 
begins not with the history of the fishes, and ser- 
pents, and monsters of the land and sea, such as 
It geology reveals in the various deposits, what then ! 
It begins with the history of the world that now is ; 
it narrates that history, as it actually occurred, and 
there is not one fact in all the annals and discoveries 
of geology to contradict it. Had the Bible denied 
the existence of the globe previous to the six days ; 
had any other place been assigned to existing ani- 



244: INTERPRETATION. 

mals than that they actually occnpy ; or, had the 
existence of these immense creatures, whose remains 
are found in the rocks, and in the alluvial deposits, 
been positively denied, there had been good reason 
to say that the Bible contradicts geology. In any 
of these cases it had affirmed that which is demon- 
strably false. But as the fact is. Scripture is in per- 
fect harmony with all the discoveries of geology. If 
we have conjectured the opposite, it is our own mis- 
take ; and we ought to correct it, just as we have 
done in respect to astronomy. 

Modern discoveries have changed the views of all 
Christendom respecting the Bible and the science 
of the heavens. Hear what Luther said, in his 
^'Table-Talk," on this subject : — " I am informed that 
a new astrologer is risen, who presumes to prove that 
the earth moveth and goeth about, not the firma- 
ment, the sun, moon, and stars ; like as when one, 
who sits in a coach, or a ship, and is moved, thinks 
he sitteth still and rests, but the earth and trees go, 
run, and move themselves. Therefore, so it is, when 
we give ourselves up to our own foolish fancies. 
This fool will turn the whole art of astronomy up 
side down, but Scripture showeth and teacheth him 
another lesson, when Joshna commanded the sun 
and moon to stand still, and not the earth." And 
later theologians have held the same sentiments ; but 



ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 245 

who does not smile at such sentiments now? The 
whole art of astronomy, as the ancients understood 
it, is indeed turned up-side down, and that -for ever! 
But has the Bible been turned up-side down? It 
has been most remarkably confirmed. And we con- 
fidently look for the same result in respect to the 
science of geology. 

The change has already begun. For ten, who a 
few years ago, looked on that science with distrust, 
there is not now found one. The most distinguished 
men of science regard the Bible, rightly interpreted, 
as, in every respect, at agreement with geology. 
Those even who maintain the idea, that Moses means 
long periods of ages, by the words " day and night," 
in Genesis, profess to find the Bible on their side, 
confirming the doctrine of their favorite science. It 
is then a settled point, that there is no contradiction 
between the Scriptures and geology. But on this 
we build a conclusion. ITeither Moses nor any of 
the sacred writers knew what we now know of 
astronomy and geology. The fact may seem to be a 
confession of their ignorance. Be it so. It redounds 
very much to the honor of the Bible. For how 
came it to pass, that neither Moses, nor any other 
inspired penman, totally ignorant though they were 
of these sciences, did not write one sentence at vari- 
ance with them ? There is nothing so rash as igno- 



24:6 INTERPRETATION. 

ranee, notMng so ready and eager to rusli into error, 
desperate in its very blindness. Why then was not 
their ignorance a snare to them? Why were they 
preserved from the palpable blunders of every other 
class of writers pretending to inspiration? The 
answer is as certain and infallible as demonstration 
can make it — they wrote as they were moved by the 
Holy Spirit of God. Therefore the Bible is in har- 
mony both with astronomy and geology ; and so far, 
the evidence is incontrovertible that its origin is 
Divine. 

This much may therefore suffice to show, in what 
manner the supposed contradictions of the Bible 
are to be disposed of. If it be an imperfect view, 
it is at least a bird's-eye view of the subject, and 
the reader must improve upon it for himself. 
These four things we note in conclusion : 
1. Fewer objections are urged against the Bible, 
in proportion as a true knowledge of the world and 
its history advances. It has been said, ignorance is 
the mother of devotion ; say rather, the mother of 
unfounded objections to the Word of God. Both 
ignorance and opposition to the Sacred Oracles, are 
passing rapidly away; and none will mourn their 
departure. The Bible was made for the highest 
state of knowledge to which it is possible for man 
to reach; and every increase of knowledge only 



ALLEGED CONTRADICTIONS. 247 

assists in hastening the glorious victory which awaits 
the Bible in the future. That future will be as full 
of joy and peace, as the past has been full of doubt 
and conflict. 

2. The present state of science confirms the veracity 
of the Bible, in all its statements, both as touching 
the origin of our world, and the various changes 
through which it has passed. No thanks to the 
enemies of the Bible for this. It is a result achieved, 
despite the wishes even of some of the friends of 
the Bible; but it is all too well established ever 
to be reversed. Science and inspiration cannot 
differ. 

3. All objections against the Bible, from natural 
science, 2irQ prima facie without foundation. Because 
the Bible, written under the superintendence of the 
Spirit of God, cannot err in that department of know- 
ledge, confessedly the inferior and the least necessary 
for man to possess. Science and revelation contra- 
dicting each other! rather let him who harbors 
any such thought, be told, he knows not what he 
affirms. 

4. The principles of reh'gion, having their origin 
in the nature of God, and in the relations which 
man sustains to God, are absolutely independent of 
all facts connected with the physical condition and 
history of this world, and of the universe. "With 



248 INTEEPRETATION. 

the principles of religion the Bible has chiefly to 
do. Hence astronomy and geology, and all natural 
science whateyer, can have no antagonistic attitude 
towards the Bible. These sciences can never refute, 
nor overthrow, one of the Bible's doctrines; for 
though the earth and the material universe were 
burned up, the principles and doctrines of the Bible 
would remain just what they are, in themselves, 
eternally holy, just, good, and true, indestructible as 
the attributes of God, by the inspiration of whose 
Spirit they have been recorded on the imperishable 
pages of the Bible. 



OEIGIN OF rrS DIFFICtJLTIES. 249 



CHAPTER Xn. 

ON THE OEIGIN OF DIFFICIJLTIES IN INTEEPEETATION. 

It will directly subserve the main design of this 
treatise, to point out here, very briefly, some of the 
chief sources whence difficulties most generally arise 
in respect to the meaning of the Bible. The dis- 
covery of the origin of a difficulty, is often the best 
clue to the removal of it ; and that there are diffi- 
culties in the interpretation of the Bible, none will 
deny, although many can discover these difficulties, 
who have not patience to seek for them a satisfactory 
explanation. That they can be solved, and the 
whole volume commended to the head and heart of 
every honest man, is as certain, as that the volume 
itself has been sent forth into the world under the 
inspiration of the Almighty. At least, more can 
be achieved in this direction than is generally 
believed. 

The sources of some of the chief difficulties in 
interpretation are the following : 

11* 



250 IKTERPKETATIOIT. 

I. The character of the Book. It is a revelation 
of mysteries, and of many doctrines in themselves 
beyond the power of the human mind to discover. 
In such a case, even where the language is as trans- 
parent as the light, there is the transcendent nature 
of the subject to perplex the mind. The only 
remedy for difficulties from this source, is a child- 
like confidence in the veracity of Grod, who can- 
not lie. 

II. The mode of its publication. It was given at 
intervals ; by men of very different degrees of know- 
ledge, of distinct peculiarities, writing for the men 
immediately around them, and in some measure 
acquainted with the events and sentiments recorded. 
Hence we approach it at a disadvantage. The 
country of its origin is far distant ; its customs very 
diverse from our own ; the language dissimilar ; and 
the genius of its institutions very different from any- 
thing with which we are acquainted. Difficulties 
arising from these sources must not be pressed 
beyond reason ; they are such as do not in any 
sense affect the foundations of religion. 

in. The antiquity of the Bible is one source of its 
obscurities. It is the oldest book in" existence. Its 
earliest histories run back to the creation ; and 
traverse a period which no other writings have 
described ; while its latest records are two thousand 



ORIGIN OF ITS DIFFICULTIES. 251 

years old. What cliaiiges have overtaken the world, 
since that day! "What revolution in language, in 
nations, in science ! How the mind of man has 
enlarged the sphere of its knowledge since the Sacred 
Record was closed. But let not the Bible be pre- 
judged on that account. Let candor and patience 
have their perfect work. 

IV. Its unscientific method of narration gives rise 
to many perplexities ! It is not the work of minds 
trained in the schools. It has no art but that of 
simplicity, thrown off its guard. With no guile in 
their hearts, the writers often seem not to know that 
guile exists. They are so anxious to deliver their 
message, that they seldom regard unbelief, or objec- 
tion as at all possible. And yet this simplicity is a 
stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. John, one 
of the most artless and transparent of all the writers, 
is often most in need of a wise and wary interpreter. 
But here candor should meet with candor ; and soon 
the simplicity of the sacred writers will protect 
them from the charge of all evil intentions. 

Y. The controversial character of some of the 
books has created difiiculties. This is true in refer- 
ence to many passages in Job, and the Epistles of 
Paul. The language of controversy is guarded; 
aimed at some one point ; and easily perverted when 
taken out of its connection. It is from this source 



252 INTERPRETATION. 

that the differences between Paul and James have 
arisen. The removal of all such difficulties is best 
achieved by mastering the point of controversy and 
then interpreting the language accordingly. 

YJ. False interpretations have given rise to diffi- 
culties which otherwise never could have arisen. 
Passages have first been misinterpreted ; then these 
misinterpretations have been set in array against 
other portions of the Bible, as though they were 
wholly irreconcilable, and the Scriptures have been 
made inconsistent with themselves. The remedy in 
such a case is to interpret right, then the Bible will 
need no self-reconciliation. 

YII. The progressive nature of Eevelation has 
been one great source of perplexity. This involved 
a change of dispensation from the simple patriarch- 
ate, to the mysterious economy of sacrifices, and the 
more glorious dispensation of the Gospel ; and these 
changes wrought others in the use of terms, and 
introduced new ideas under old terms, which still 
haunt the mind in their old significations, creating 
confusion in our thoughts as a matter of course. 
But we must endeavor to keep up with the light of 
revelation, and allow our minds to expand as its 
light expands, following the Divine manifestation as 
it goes forward, without fear or doubting. 

Vni. Imperfections in our translations have given 



ORIGIN OF ITS DIFFICULTIES. 253 

rise to many things hard to be explained. The 
English translation now in use, is probably the best 
ever made ; yet there are imperfections in it, whei^ 
the true sense of the original has not been conveyed, 
or conveyed only in part. The following are exam- 
ples : Matt. vi. 25, " Take no thought for your life." 
Phil. iv. 6, " Be careful for nothing." The original 
is — " Be not over anxious." Col. i. 15, " The first 
born of every creature." It should have been 
" Pre-eminent over every creature." Acts ii. 27, 
" Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell." The Greek 
is : " In the state of the dead." 1 Sam. ii. 25, " Be- 
cause the Lord would slay them." The Hebrew is : 
" Therefore the Lord would slay them." Mark ix. 
24, "I believe, help thou my unbelief." The 
original for " help " is an idiom very difficult to 
render into English. Its meaning is : " Come to 
my help that my unbelief may be changed into 
faith." 

IX. Modes of speech have been the occasion of 
many perplexities ; some of these modes are com- 
mon to Hebrew, some to Greek, and others to all 
languages. 

(1.) Thus a part is used for the whole, and the 
whole for a part. Gal. v. 14, " For all the law is 
fulfilled in one word." Matt. iv. 8, ^' Showeth 
him all the kingdoms of the world." James v. 17, 



254 INTERPRETATION. 

"It rained not on the eartli." In both instances 
Palestine alone is meant. 

• (2.) The thing, or person to which another is com- 
pared is spoken of as the thing, or person himself. 
Jas. iii. 6, " The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity." 
Matt. xxyi. 26, " Take, eat, this is my body." Jas. 
Iy. 14, " What is your life ? it is a vapor." Matt, 
xvii. 12, " I say unto you Elias is come." 

(3.) The instrument, or means, or mere occasion 
of an event is spoken of as though it were the abso- 
lute and efficient cause of that event. Jas. v. 20, 
" Let him know, that he that converteth a sinner, 
shall save a soul from death." 1 Pet. i. 22, " Seeing 
ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth." 
" Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole." 
Luke viii. 48. 

(4.) An incidental result is often spoken of as 
though it were the decreed result preordained by 
the will of God. Matt. x. 34, " I came not to send 
peace, but a sword." Jno. xvii. 12, " None of them 
is lost, but the son of perdition ; that the Scriptm-e 
might be fulfilled." 1 Pet. iL 8, " Whereunto also, 
they were appointed." This is repeated in Acts 
xxviii. 26, 27, in somewhat diff'erent language ; and 
it is one of the most frequent occasions of objection. 
But the difficulty is removed at once when we remem- 
ber, it is only a mode of speech, and nothing more. 



OEIGIN OF ITS DIFFICTJLTIES. 255 

(5.) Physical terms are applied to tlie soul and its 
states, as though the soul were itself a material 
object, and governed by material laws admitting of 
no power to the contrary. This ought never to be 
forgotten. Eph. v. 14, " Awake thou that sleepest, 
and arise from the dead, and Christ will give thee 
life." Eph. ii. 1, " And you hath he quickened, 
who were dead in trespasses and sin." Col. iv. 5, 
" Walk in wisdom toward them that are without." 
Col. ii. 12, " Buried with him in baptism, wherein 
also ye are risen with him." 1 Cor. x. 12, " Where- 
fore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed 
lest he fall." 

(6.) Universal terms are employed, and are left to 
be limited by the context, by other texts, or by the 
nature of the subject. Here the artlessness of the 
Bible shines forth conspicuous, on every page. 
Phil. iv. 13, " I can do all things through Christ," 
i. e.y "I can endure all sorts of adversity." Eph. 
v. 24, " Therefore as the Church is subject unto 
Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in 
everything ;" i. ^., in what is right. So Col. iii. 22. 
2 Cor. V. 17, " Behold all things are become new ;" 
i. ^., Your heart is renewed in its affections. 1 Jno. 
iii. 9, " Whosoever is born of God doth not commit 
sin ;" i. e,, does not habitually disobey God. 

(T.) Things are said to be done, and events to 



256 INTERPRETATION 

transpire, when the meaning is, they were attempted 
to be done, or, it seemed as though they were done. 
Exod. vii. 11, " The magicians of Egypt, they also 
did in like manner with their enchantments." Eev. 
XX. 1-6, &c. This last passage is a symbolical 
description of events to transpire in the history of 
the world ; and the writer describes them as though 
lie saw them. But how foolish to regard him as 
foretelling the descent of a literal angel, with a key 
and chain, the binding of Satan and his literal 
imprisonment in a bottomless pit ! the raising of the 
dead and the coming of Christ to reign in person at 
Jerusalem for a thousand years ! 

(8.) Hyperboles, or exaggerated comparisons, are a 
fruitful source of perplexity. They are the most 
common in the Psalms and prophets ; and very 
general in all oriental writings. But they are to be 
explained, by a reference to the subject of which 
they speak. Common sense is the remedy for all 
such difficulties. " He hath broken my teeth with 
gravel stones," Lam. iii. 16. "The wicked are 
estranged from the womb ; they go astray as soon as 
they be born, speaking lies," Ps. Iviii. 3. " Put on 
the whole armor of God," Eph. vi. 11 ; i, ^., arm 
yourselves with every Divine resource against 
evil. 

(9.) Things contingently, or morally impossible, 



ORIGIN OF ITS DIFFICULTIES. 257 

are spoken of as absolutely and purely impossible. 
Gen. xxxvii. 4, " They bated him, and could not 
speak peaceably to him." There was no want of 
ability in the case. Jno. xii. 39, ''Therefore they 
could not believe." 1 Jno. iii. 9, " He cannot sin, 
because he is born of God." 2 Pet. ii. 14, "Eyes 
that cannot cease from sin." Gal. v. 17, "Ye can- 
not do the things that ye would." In this last case, 
there is, as in all the rest, no want of ability, but of 
opportunity, through the strife of the two opposing 
principles. As in the declaration of Joshua, "Ye 
cannot serve God ;" that is, they could not serve their 
idols and God at the same time. The same was the 
saying of our Lord: "Ye cannot serve God and 
Mammon." These forms of speech are among the 
most common in our language ; yet out of no deeper 
sources than these have sprung many of the bitterest 
controversies between Christians, and many of the 
most profound objections against the Bible ! 

(10.) Things inconsistent with the character and 
will of God, are said to be impossible, when there is 
no absolute impossibility in the case. Mark vi. 5, 
" And he could do there no mighty works." Tit. i. 
2, " Which God, that cannot lie, promised before the 
world began." 

X. But, finally, the grand fountain of diificulties, 
in respect to the meaning of the Bible, is in the 



258 INTEKPRETATION. 

heart of man. By sin it is naturally ignorant, 
stupid, and incapable (so to speak) of all spiritual 
knowledge. The want of a willing mind throws 
an eclipse over the entire sacred volume; objec- 
tions a thousand times answered, are a thousand 
times brought up and insisted on; and it would 
verily seem as though it were easy to understand 
all other books ; they being plain, consistent, and 
true; while the Bible is held to be precisely the 
opposite, dark, unreasonable, subtle, and hard to be 
understood. 

But not without forethought has the Bible been 
sent on its mission. Divine wisdom has imparted 
to -its pages that holy simplicity, that purity and 
truth, which is without stain, and whereby human 
duplicity is put to shame. By its own inherent 
resources, it is slowly rising over all objections, like 
the sun over the mists of the morning. Every 
passing year throws clearer light on its path. Its 
truthfulness is being daily vindicated against all 
the world. The highest names of science rejoice 
in its spotless integrity. Perpetual success attends 
it. Its path is toward glory and immortality. JSTo 
old age overtakes -it. Not a blush of conscious 
dishonesty ever reddens on its cheek. Descending 
from the earliest dawn of literature, it will survive 
to regenerate all literature, and to infuse new vigor, 



ORIGIN OF ITS DIFFICULTIES. 259 

for long generations, into all the powers of the 
human mind. Weakness in the Bible there is none. 
Contradictions ? Tliere are spots on the sun, but no 
contradictions in the Bible. " The words of the 
Lord are pure words ; as silver in a furnace of earth, 
parified seven times." 



260 THE BIBLE, 



CHAPTER Xin. 

ON THE MORAL POWER OF THE BIBLE, WITH REFERENCE 
TO ITS SOURCES. 

The moral power of the Bible, that is, its influence 
over the hearts and actions of men and nations, 
is a phenomenon which its enemies have never 
attempted to deny. We well remember, after the 
lapse of nearly half a centnry, the time, manner, 
and language in which this peculiarity of the Bible 
was first made known to us. It was on the afternoon 
of a bright Sabbath, and from the lips of a Scottish 
patriarch ; said he : " The Bible is the best book in 
the world." It sounded something grand, yes, sub- 
lime, in our youthful thoughts, that one particular 
book should have this pre-eminence ; and the saying 
has lost none of its truth, or sublimity, since that 
day, in our view. We like its comprehensiveness. 
It expresses all that can be said of the Bible, in one 
brief Saxon sentence. It implies that the Bible 
wields over the world by far a greater amount of 



SOURCES OF ITS POWER. 261 

moral and intellectual power, than all other books ; 
and this fact the history of the world certainly 
demonstrates. The Bible of a truth is the best 
book in the world. It is the primate of all books, 
and will never have a successor. 

It is the fountain-head of our purest and most 
influential literature. In the arts and sciences, it is 
the source of all progress. Poetry is ever ready to 
confess its obligations to this Book of books. There 
is no oratory in the halls of learning, of legislation, 
or of justice, but ever seeks to refresh itself from 
the pages of the Bible. Painting has hence derived 
its snblimest conceptions. All genius rekindles at 
its divine touch. "What a storehouse of thought, of 
mental impulse, there is in this one familiar volume ! 
Men of the loftiest mental endowments find in it 
themes of investigation, illimitable. The entire reli- 
gious life of our world, so expansive and joyous, has 
its springs in the Word of God. Time itself will 
end, before the magic stimulus of this one book will 
cease to be felt in the minds of men. 

It is certain the world is never weary with its 
study; for there is more patient study expended 
upon it every day, than upon all other books put 
together. There are more books traceable to the 
Bible, than to any and all books in existence. It 
furnishes themes for the pulpits of Christendom, 



262 THE BIBLE. 

and spiritual food for millions of the best disciplined 
minds in all lands. It is read in all Christian fami- 
lies daily. It is the grand book of reference and 
final appeal in all schools of theology. The mis- 
sionary carries it beyond the seas, into the midst of 
heathenism, not doubting but, by its aid, he will 
soon lay all the idols prostrate. It is brought to the 
bedside of the dying, as the only balm of the weary 
heart, in the valley and shadow of death. The anxious 
inquirer, seeing behind him the wrath to come, and 
constrained to cry, " What must I do to be saved ?" 
comes to the Bible for an answer ; and there he 
finds a Saviour. And what is wonderful, in the cell 
of the maniac, its words of truth and soberness 
mysteriously awe the children of wretchedness into 
attention, and bring even over their troubled coun- 
tenances, the sunshine of the love of God. 

It has been more signally preserved, during a 
longer succession of ages, than any other book. 
It has outlived more intense criticism ; it has been 
oftener copied and printed; it has been oftener 
interdicted by kings than any other book. Tyrants 
have hated it with unquenchable hatred ; for it has 
done more than any other agency to confound their 
counsels, and mar their ambition. In the hands of 
patriots, it is the sacred standard of liberty and 
right. Kings are sworn to the duties of their office 



SOURCES OF ITS POWER. 263 

on the lioly Bible. In courts of justice it is the 
guardian angel of truth and equity, and to kiss that 
book is to stand in the very presence of the King 
of kings. Against infidelity, atheism, and delusion 
it is the only successful champion, that never sur- 
renders ; these giant evils cower and stand abashed 
in its presence, as guilt and shame in the presence 
of innocence. The Bible is translated into more 
languages, and is actually read by a greater propor- 
tion of the world, and is also more revered and 
loved than any other book. There is everywhere a 
more ready deference to its sentiments, on all the 
great questions that perplex men, than there is, or 
ever was accorded to any other volume. It is 
esteemed as worthy of the faith of all men, and the 
enterprise is on foot, to place it as soon as possible 
in every family on the globe. 

What book, we ask, obtains such universal honor 
as this ? There is none worthy of such honor, but 
itself. He, to whom was given more wisdom, than 
usually falls to the lot of men, said, in the olden 
time, " where the word of a king is, there is power." 
This is true of the Bible, with an emphasis ; for it is 
the word of a King — even the King of kings, the 
King eternal, immortal, and invisible, the only wise 
God ; and through all lands, and through all time, 
there has gone with it, a power as wonderful as it 



264: THE BIBLE. 

has been blessed. During these last three hundred 
years especially, has this power been felt on a large 
scale. See its effect, first on Luther ; then on Ger- 
many, and then on England. This last, indeed, owes 
all its greatness, political, intellectual, and moral, 
more directly to the Bible, than to all other causes 
under God. Her rise dates only back to her recep- 
tion of the Bible. When she bade it welcome, in 
spite of her kings and bishops, from the hands of the 
heroic William Tyndale, a martyr of noble memory, 
she was but a third rate kingdom, inferior even to 
Portugal on the sea. But as soon as the Bible was 
read in her homes, and preached in her pulpits, and 
believed by her people, a new glory burst on her 
path. The commerce of the world fell into her 
hands. Science was born, and grew in such prosper- 
ity as the world had never seen before. The whole 
face of England was changed. Wealth flowed into 
all her ports; the colonies of other nations, the 
som'ces of luxury and power, yielded to her arms, 
almost without a blow. In a very short time, they 
said, she swayed the sceptre of an empire, on which 
the sun never set ! 

But, in the meanwhile, the nations which banished 
the Scriptures, and put in their place the traditions 
of the Eoman Church, were struck with decay. 
The wealth of Mexico and Peru, and the jewels of 



SOURCES OF ITS P0WI3t. 265 

tlie distant East, could not preserve their dominions. 
As there is no rising from political and social degra- 
dation, without the Bible, so there is no permanency 
in civilization, or power, without it. Euin immedi- 
ately overtakes every people that rejects the "Word 
of God. All this does the history of the world 
prove ; and if so, then it is manifest, that the power 
of this divine book is, as yet, only in its infancy, 
slowly expanding into its full and ripe maturity. 
What will it be, when, in the course of ages, it has 
reached, enlightened, and purified, the great heart 
of universal humanity ? 

What then, is the secret of this power ? what are 
the elem/3nts of which it consists ? We answer, the 
secret of its power is in the fact, that it is from God, 
and in its adaptation to all the manifold wants of 
man's dependent, spiritual nature. 

I. Thus, in the first place, of all books claiming 
a Divine origin, the Bible alone sets forth the right 
law of moral conduct. 

Men have wearied themselves to this hour, with 
their attempts to settle the first principles of right 
and wrong. Nor is there any prospect of a speedy 
agreement among philosophers, as to what these first 
principles are. On the other hand, how authorita- 
tive, and consistent, have been the teachings of the 

12 



266 , THE BIBLE. 

Bible, on this subject, from the first. "Thou slialt 
love tbe Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and thy 
neighbor as thyself." Wo other book ever announced 
such a form of words, embracing with such match- 
less brevity, and yet with such infinite amplitude, 
the entire rudiments and essentials of all law; sim- 
ple enough to be understood by a child, and deep 
enough to task all the energies of the wisest of men. 
"Wherever these words are pronounced, men recognize 
in them a divine power over the conscience, at once 
peculiar and impressive ; and this recognition is the 
ready response of the soul, to the voice of its Crea- 
tor. 

All was uncertainty, till these words were 
announced. "With a calmness, and a clearness, that 
is divine, they settle for ever the great law of morals 
for every creature, placing it on none of the shifting 
foundations of human expediency, but on the solid 
immovable basis of the sovereignty of God ; 
thus commending it to the universal conscience of 
the world, and binding all men to the duty of obedi- 
ence, by the most august of all sanctions, the holy 
and unchangeable will of God. Here lies the 
strength of the law on the hearts of men, its right- 
ness, and its righteous sanctions; not its rightness 
only, but the just and solemn penalties by which it is 
guarded. Such is the law of moral conduct in the 



SOUECES OF ITS POWER. 267 

Bible ; and such, is one element of its wonderful 
power over men. It goes down into the conscience, 
and directs the very first motions of action in the 
soul. It places you in the very presence of the eter- 
nal Jehovah ; and gives you His will to obey, on the 
authority wherewith He is invested. 

H. In the next place, the view which the Bible 
presents of man's condition, contributes to its sin- 
gular influence over him. 

The condition of man, as a child of sin and sorrow, 
has been a stone of stumbling, and a rock of off*ence, 
from the beginning; causing one to plunge into 
Atheism, another into Fatalism, a third into sensual- 
ity, and a fourth into despair. The question has 
been, not simply why is sin in the world ? but what 
is man's relation to the first sin, of the first man ? 

Many of the devoutest and deepest thinkers have 
maintained that, since the first sin of the first man, 
sin has descended in human nature, by the laws of 
generation, the child from the moment of its exis- 
tence being, in actual character, what Adam was 
after he had voluntarily broken the divine law. 
According to this view, our relation to the first sin, 
is the relation of a necessary efi^ect, to its antecedent 
and necessary cause. But the results of this view, 
have been to perplex the whole subject of moral 



268 THE BIBLE. 

government, and along with it, the whole character 
of God Himself. An awful obstinacy has been 
engendered in the minds of thousands ; they have 
cast off all fear of God, and regarded religion as a 
thing overwhelmed in self-contradictions. Others, 
professing indeed to hold this view, have governed 
their hearts rather by the practical demands of the 
divine law, to the neglect of their false theory ; in 
happy inconsistency, refusing to walk according to 
their own faith. 

To the question, why sin is in the world, various 
have been the answers. Some have said, it is here 
because men existed in another world, sinned there, 
and were sent here into a state of sin, as into a house 
of correction. Others have viewed it as an essen- 
tial thing to the display of the divine glory ; decreed 
as the means of greater good. But it may be truly 
aflBrmed, that man has not improved in his moral 
condition under any of these theories. They have 
not met the rational demands of his moral nature. 
They have thrown no light upon his path ; they 
have afforded no sanitary influence to his heart. 

What then is the Scriptural view of man's present 
condition? The Bible tells how the first sin took 
place ; it defines sin, always with strict precision, to 
be transgression of law ; it affirms every man's per- 
sonal responsibility, his perfect freedom, and indefea- 



SOURCES OF ITS POWER. 269 

sible obligation to keep the whole law of God, in all 
its requirements; and it declares that every man 
shall answer for his sins, as deeds, voluntarily done 
in his body, contrary to the will of his rightful 
sovereign. The relation, therefore, which every 
man holds to sin, according to the Bible, is that of 
an independent and adequate cause to its appro- 
priate effect ; and consequently, the relation of every 
man to the first sin, is that he voluntarily re-enacts 
it in his own person. Left to the freedom of his 
will, and to those constitutional tendencies inherited 
in his descent from Adam, he sins, as did Adam, 
and inherits the curse. Such, as we gather it, is the 
doctrine of the Bible. Ko where is sin said to be a 
quality, or property, or bias of nature ; it is always 
an act, a thing of choice, against which all nature 
protests. Tou will search the Bible in vain, for any 
legal, or moral, or personal conglomeration of all 
mankind into one literal representative person, 
responsible for all, acting, and sinning for all; and 
in whom all lived, died, and were condemned. ITor 
in the Bible will you find any evidence of man's 
pre-existence ; nor indeed one sentence of mystery 
in reference to this whole subject. It maintains 
fearlessly the doctrine of man's probation, the right- 
eous moral government of 'God, administered in an 
economy of grace, and in due time to be vindicated 



270 THE BIBLE. 

from all charges of injustice. It calmly assures 
every man, that as he sows now, so shall he reap 
hereafter ; and that for his own deeds, every man 
shall give account unto God. This is one element 
of its mighty power over the world. " What is the 
most solemn thought " — ^said one to the great Web- 
ster—" that ever passed through your mind ?" Af- 
ter some moments of profound silence, the statesman 
answered, with a countenance clothed in solemnity : 
" The most solemn thought that ever passed through 
my mind, is the thought of man's responsibility to 
God." It is just so; and the Bible confirms it. 
That holy book, speaking to the world in God's 
stead, assures every man, high and low, rich and 
poor, bond and free, that he is accountable to God 
for his conduct ; it puts every man on his good 
behavior, for time and eternity ; and human nature 
being what it is, men must take heed to their ways, 
with such a system before them, sanctioned as it is 
by all the solemnities of the Godhead. The Bible 
allows no man to merge himself into any other j)er- 
son, or to palm off his transgressions as things bom 
with him, as his hands or his eyes. It performs the 
office of Nathan, and with uplifted hand, and finger 
direct, it declares to every sinner chargeable with 
sin, " thou art the man."' 



SOURCES OF ITS POWER. 271 

m. Another element of power in the Bible is, the 
view there given of the character of God. 

This is a point of the most vital importance. If 
the Bible had failed here, it had failed altogether. 
For it is a law, as inexorable as the law of gravita- 
tion, that the individual and nation will be in moral 
character according to the character of the deity 
they worship. The condition of all heathen nations 
is proof of this. The attributes they ascribe to their 
idols, they copy in their daily conduct ; and these 
attributes are the offspring of their benighted and 
selfish hearts. So that they are literally gods to 
themselves ; and hence they will never rise, by their 
own resources, out of the fearful pit into which their 
sins have plunged them. We do not mean to say, 
that the heathen have no powers of mind to know 
the attributes of the true God, nor, that they cannot 
discover these attributes from the world around 
them. This is our position : that copying as they 
ever do, in their own conduct, the attributes of their 
idols, which have previously been suggested out of 
their own hearts, they never will, in this process, 
arrive at the knowledge of God as he is, and so will 
never rise from the depths of sin into which they 
have fallen. They must first be taught out of the 
Bible, the character of God. 

But in vain do we search the wide world, for just 



272 THE BIBLE. 

conceptions ot God, until we open the Scriptures. 
Ask the wisest of ancient philosophers, the man 
whose opinions governed the schools even down to 
the time of Bacon, ask him, who, or what is God ? 
His answer is — " The universe is God." Or, his 
great rival, whose fame is scarcely at all inferior, 
and whose philosophy tinged all Christian theology 
for a thousand years, ask Plato, and he says — " God 
is an extremely subtle matter, such as air." 'Now if 
these are the loftiest conceptions of the wisest of 
men, what must be the conceptions of the ignorant 
common people. Surely, well did Paul say : " The 
world by wisdom knew not God." 

But open the Bible, and your soul is immediately 
filled with awe, as though you were suddenly brought 
into the presence of the King of kings, a glorious 
Being like to no mere imagination of the wicked 
human heart. Here is the true God revealed in his 
true character. He is infinite in Power, Holiness, 
Justice, Goodness and Truth. You are disposed to 
veil your face at the sight, to tremble and adore. 

"God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him 
must worship Him in spirit and in truth. God that 
made the world, and all that are therein, seeing He 
is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples 
made with hands, as though He needed anything, 
seeing He giveth to all, life and breath, and all 



SOURCES OF ITS POWER. 273 

things. Forasmuch, then, as we are the offspring of 
God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like 
unto gold or silver, or stone, graven by art, or man's 
device. And the times of this ignorance, God 
winked at; but now commandeth all men every- 
where, to repent ; because he hath appointed a day, 
in which He will judge the world in righteousness, 
whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in 
that He hath raised Him from the dead. For God so 
loved the world, that He gave His only begotten 
Son, that whosoever belie veth in Him, should not 
perish, but have everlasting life. God is love, and 
he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God 
in him. This is the true God, and eternal life." 

Such is the view of the divine character as given 
in the Scriptures ; and in the Scriptures alone. The 
God of the Bible is the Creator, Proprietor, and 
Judge of all ; infinitely holy, just and merciful ; 
slow to anger, yet by no means willing to clear the 
guilty and impenitent ; condescending to the lowest 
of His creatures, providing a sacrifice for sin ; will- 
ing to forgive the penitent, but punishing the rebel- 
lious with the just penalty of His eternal law. And 
such precisely are the conceptions of the Divine 
Being, necessary to the formation of a pm-e, and 
stable moral character in man ; and they constitute 
an important element of the power of the Bible. 



274 THE BIBLE. 

The man who reveres, and worships, and loves the 
God of the Bible, will give evidence of a pnre, and 
holy life. With open face, beholding as in a glass 
the glory of the Lord, he will be changed into the 
same image, from glory to glory, even as by the 
Spirit of the Lord. 
» 

lY. There is another source of this power which 
belongs to the Bible : it reveals the only persuasive, 
by which the human heart is ever won to the love 
and pursuit of holiness, viz. : Christ crucified, as a 
sacrifice for sin, and commended to the soul by the 
illumination of the Holy Spirit. 

In this particular, the Bible stands alone, and pre- 
eminent, like some mighty mountain towering above 
the plain, high above all other pretended revelations. 
The remedy, by which the dread waywardness, and 
wickedness of man's heart are removed, is the Bible's 
own. Untaught of God, man could not so much as 
have imagined such a remedy possible. K, by some 
chance, he had reached that idea, then his conscience 
would have represented it as wholly improbable. 
Finite, and guilty, and perplexed, how could he 
have arrived at any such knowledge, as that revealed 
in Christ ? God manifest in the flesh ; suffering as 
man ; rising from the dead ; atoning, and interceding 
for the chief of sinners — ^impossible ! And even so 



SOURCES OF ITS POWER. • 275 

must sinful men have reasoned, respecting the work 
of the Holy Spirit on the penitent heart. Here was 
a mystery too deep for all human understanding, or 
discovery. 

But it is through this very mystery of the Spirit, 
and of God manifest in the flesh, applied to the con- 
victed and penitent heart, that the soul is ever puri- 
fied from the love of sin, and made willing and 
stable, in the love, and service of God. This is the 
only sovereign balm for sin, the only sure method of 
salvation from disobedience, and death eternal. 
Neither science, nor law, nor learning, nor the voice 
of nature, heard like music in the deep places of the 
soul, has ever yet accomplished the renovation of the 
soul. It is Christ crucified, that is the power of God, 
and the wisdom of God to this grand end. The 
savage, dwelling in habitations of horrid cruelty, 
has not been able to withstand it ; though guilty of 
a thousand crimes, he has found peace and hope, by 
faith in the Son of God. Idolatry, and every form 
of human wickedness, has yielded to the charms of 
the Cross of Christ. Its victories fill every land. 
There is not a saint in heaven, but owes his blessed- 
ness to the mystery of the cross ; for such is the pro- 
found death to all holiness, superinduced upon the 
heart, by transgression, that no means short of the 



276 THE BIBLE. 

blood of Christ, has ever sufficed to raise one poor 
sinner from its wretched embrace. The sinner has 
withstood all the convictions of his reason, all the 
terrors of his conscience, all the bounties of natm-e, 
all the miseries of sin long endured ; but this — the 
death of Jesus, an atonement for his sins, a pledge 
of God's willingness to pardon and save him — this, 
he has not been able to withstand. Oh ! the divine 
power of the cross of Christ ! It has wrought mira- 
cles, and alone can work the miracle of subduing, 
and saving the soul, to the love and service of God. 
And because this is the great theme of the Bible, 
therefore it possesses a power over the world, at once 
peculiar, and pre-eminent. It is, in this respect, the 
best Book in all the world. 

Y. And summing up all its characteristics in one, 
and in one sentence pointing to the grand source, 
whence all its peculiar characteristics proceed, it is 
the inspired "Word of God. 

Though good men wrote it, and though it bears all 
the marks of their mental peculiarities, so that it 
really conveys the personal belief, and extended 
reasonings of Job, Moses, Samuel, David, Ezra, 
Isaiah, Daniel, Paul, and John ; yet, nevertheless, 
there is in it, over and above all, the divine infalli- 



SOURCES OF ITS POWER. 277 

bility and energy of the Spirit of God, of Him who 
made the soul, and at whose voice the soul is wont 
to awake, as a harp at the touch of the minstrel. 

The Bible is the Word of God, therefore it goeth 
forth conquering, and to conquer among the nations ; 
often attacked, but never defeated; outliving all 
opposition ; disarming prejudice ; converting its ene- 
mies ; claiming, because it is worthy of, universal 
regard ; in courts of justice, in senates, in halls of 
legislation, in the chamber of the dying, in semina- 
ries of learning, and at the family altar, everywhere, 
the mightiest among the mighty ; pulling down the 
strongest holds of Satan; giving strength to the 
weak; -hope to the oppressed, and joy to those in 
sorrow ; not like any other book ; its powers for good 
to man increasing, as the centuries sweep onward ; 
guiding the nations as truly as individuals into the 
paths of peace ; overthrowing the dominion of sin, 
and imparting to all who receive it, a blessed fore- 
taste of eternal life with God in glory. In the lan- 
guage of one who imitated with rare felicity, the 
pious George Herbert, we say : 

The Bible ! tliat's the Book, the Book indeed, 

The Book of books ; 

On which who looks, 
As he should do, aright, shall never need 



278 THE BIBLE. 

"Wish for a better light, 

To guide him in the night ; 
Or when he hungry is, for better food. 

To feed upon. 

Than this alone. 
A Book, to which none may be compared 

For excellence ; 

Pre-eminence 
Is proper to it, and cannot be shared. 

Divinity alone 

Belongs to it, or none. 



A P P E ]!( D I X 



APPENDIX. 



OK MAXTMS. 

Lsr the chapter on Maxims we have said, that 
every science has its maxims, or first principles. 
This is true even of the science of law, supposed to 
be one of the most shifting and uncertain of all 
departments of human knowledge ; and it may be 
not out of place, to record some of these maxims, on 
these pages, seeing they throw a strong light on the 
subject of interpretation. From this record, it will 
appear that whatever the science of law may be in 
its practice, it is certainly well and deeply founded 
in its principles. They bear on their face the im- 
press of sound sense, and are as self-evident as any 
decisions of the human mind need be, to secure them 

281 



282 APPENDIX. 

all due reverence. There has been a latent con- 
tempt for lawyers perhaps in the schools of theology ; 
and perhaps it has been mutual, the disciples of one 
science despising the peculiar pursuits of the disci- 
ples of the other. ITow, while we defer to none in 
our respect for men, whose chief business in life has 
been the study of theology, we must be permitted to 
say, that weighing well these maxims in the science 
of law, we would most heartily rejoice were there no 
other theories, or doctrines propounded from the 
pulpit, but such as are consistent with them. Our 
theology would suffer no damage, by letting go its 
antique and somewhat infirm method of constructing 
its systems, and taking instead, the system presented 
in these fundamental truths of a much despised 
science. 

In the case of theologians, the mind has apparently 
wrought out a theory of religion, often under the 
embarrassing influences of a vitious tradition, or with 
a written instrument in view, many parts of which 
have been misunderstood, and others most grievously 
perverted. But in the case of teachers of law, the 
mind has had in view simply its own innate sense of 
right and wrong, the clear, honest decisions of an 
impartial judgment, guided by a desire to enact that 
which is just and equal, between man and man. 
The consequence has been, that while theologians, 



ON MAXIMS. 283 

in the name of religion and the Bible, have an- 
nounced and often adopted principles at manifest 
war with common sense, and common justice, and 
directly subversive of all equity even in the Divine 
government, lawyers have stood firm as the advo- 
vates of principles, which the understandings and 
consciences of all men must receive at once as disin- 
terested, just, and true, calculated to work no injury, 
and representing justice even in God, the Supreme 
Lawgiver and Judge, as pure, incorruptible, and 
jealous for the rights and happiness of the meanest 
of His creatures. 

We have not attempted to follow any distinct 
method in the selection and arrangement of these 
maxims. The Latin form has in some instances been 
retained, with a translation. 

LEGAL MAXIMS. 

1. Summa ratio est quse pro religione facit. If 
in any case the laws of God and man are at variance, 
the former are to be regarded as the higher law. 

2. The law consists not in particular instances and 
precedents, but in the reason of the law ; for reason 
is the life of the law — nay, the common law itself is 
nothing else but reason. 

3. The sense of the words of a law is to be inter- 



284 APPENDIX. 

preted according to their fair and ordinary meaning, 
at the time of its enactment. 

4. Optimns interpres legnm consnetudo. Custom 
is the best interpreter of laws. 

5. General words shall be aptly restrained accord- 
ing to the subject matter, or person to which they 
refer. 

6. "Where a statute will bear two interpretations, 
one contrary to plain sense, the other agreeable 
thereto, the latter shall have the preference. 

7. No statute shall be construed in such a manner 
as to be inconvenient, or against reason. A latent 
ambiguity may be removed by evidence. In the 
absence of ambiguity, no exposition shall be made, 
which is opposed to the express words of the instru- 
ment. It is not allowed to interpret where there is 
no need of interpretation. 

8. The law will judge of a deed by looking at the 
whole. 

9. He, who considers merely the letter of an 
instrument, goes but skin deep into its meaning. 

10. Nothing is so consonant with equity, as that 
every contract should be dissolved by the same 
means which rendered it binding. 

11. No man shall take advantage of his own wrong. 

12. He, who does an act through the medium of 
another, is in law considered as doing it himself. 



ON MAXIMS. * 285 

13. Necessity is no law. Where the act is com- 
pulsory and not voluntary, and where there is not a 
consent and election on the part of the doer, the law 
charges no man with guilt. 

14. The law cannot confer a favor on one to the 
loss and injury of another. An act in law shall 
prejudice no man. 

15. The law shall not, through the medium of its 
executive capacity, work a wrong. 

16. The practice of the court, is the law of the 
court. 

17. When the court cannot take judicial notice of 
a fact, it is the same as if the fact had not existed. 
Quod non apparet, non est. 

18. Lex semper dabit remedium. There is no 
wrong in law without a remedy. 

19. It were infinite for the law to consider the 
causes of causes and their impulsions, one of another; 
therefore it contenteth itself with the immediate 
cause, and judgeth of acts by that, without looking 
further. 

20. The act of God injures no man. 

21. The law does not seek to compel a man to do 
that which he cannot possibly perform. 

22. Ignorance of the law does not excuse. 

23. The law, in some cases, judges of a man's 
previous intentions by his subsequent acts. 



286 APPENDIX. 

24:. It is a principle of natural justice that tlie 
intent and the act must both concur to constitute the 
crime. 

25. Whosoever grants a thing, is supposed, also, 
tacitly to grant that without which the grant itself 
would be of no effect. 

26. Nemo punietur sine injm^ia. Punishment 
follows crime only ; the innocent go free. 

27. Hsereditas nunquam ascendit. Heirship does 
not ascend but descend. 

28. That which cannot be done directly, cannot 
be done indirectly. 

29. The presumption of innocence shall stand 
until guilt is proved. 

30. Ubi eadem est ratio, eadem est lex. Like 
reasons make like laws. 

31. The express mention of one thing, implies the 
exclusion of all others. Rom. xiv., 12. " So then, 
every man shall give account of himself unto God." 

32. Nemo debet bis puniri pro uno delicto. No 
man ought to be punished twice for the same 
offence. 

33. Dolus circuitu non purgatur. However long 
a fraud may run, it is still a fraud. 

How admirably many of these legal maxims apply 
to the science of sacred interpretation, and to the 
whole groundwork of religion! How clear the 



ON MAXIMS. 287 

vein of sound common sense and justice running 
through them ! As axioms they spring naturally 
from the primary conceptions and decisions of the 
human mind ; and, therefore, they cannot but touch 
the soul of all truth. Framed in distinct view of 
the relations existing between man and man, they 
throw a strong and steady light on many of the 
deepest problems of the divine moral government, 
and on the relations of man universally with his 
Creator and Judge. Eeason is stamped upon them, 
and that stamp gives them value and currency over 
the whole domain of truth. "Would theologians but 
acquaint themselves thoroughly with these maxims, 
they would assuredly be saved from adopting some 
of the absurdities into which they fall, in reference 
to the higher science of Religion. For, although 
there is no Gospel in mere law, yet, the moral law 
of the Bible and its principles constitute the sub- 
stantial and immovable basis on which the Gospel 
stands. There is no comprehending the need of the 
Gospel, but through a knowledge of that law. " By 
the law is the knowledge of sin ;" and the know- 
ledge of sin brings with it, the knowledge of the 
need of a Saviour. Hence, to go astray in our notions 
of the law, is to necessitate our going astray in 
respect to the Gospel. The interpretation of the 
tlie law, and of man's abilities under the law, 



288 APPENDIX. 

of the penalties by which, it is sustained, and 
of the grounds on which the guilt of its violation 
is charged on man, are points of fundamental impor- 
tance. To fail to discover the meaning of the Bible, 
on any of these matters, is a grievous error in a 
minister of the Gospel; to present precisely the 
meaning of the word of God, on these various 
topics, is to possess the sword of the word of God, 
and to wield it for the conviction and conversion of 
the souls of men. 

"We cannot refrain from the reflection how plainly 
these first principles in the science of law, refute 
that absurd dogma in which some theologians take 
such strange delight, viz., that the race of mankind 
existed, sinned, and was condemned in the sin and 
person of Adam. It would be a new thing under the 
sun for such ideas to be uttered in courts of justice. 
iNor can their utterance in class-rooms be accounted 
for on any other ground than that of theologians 
claiming for themselves privileges granted to no 
other class of men ; among which is the privilege 
of saying what is intrinsically at variance with 
reason, without the inconvenience of having their 
sayings doubted. 



HOW TO PROVE A DOCTRINE. 289 



n. 

WHAT IS IT TO PROVE A DOCTRINE FROM SCRIPTURE? 

This is an important and practical question ; and 
we shall proceed here to give it an answer, because 
of its direct bearing on our main subject of inter- 
pretation. 

1. To prove a doctrine from Scripture, it is not 
enough that we quote a text, or texts, which sound 
like the doctrine. The sound of Scripture may be 
the very opposite of the sense of Scripture. It 
would not profit a doctrine to have the mere sound 
of a text in its favor, while the sense of the same 
text condemned it. Acts viii. 38, "They went 
both down into the water," sounds as if baptism was 
by immersion ; but it does not prove it. Matt. xxvi. 
26, " This is my body," sounds as though transub- 
stantiation were taught in Scripture ; but it does not 
prove it. Heb. vi. 6, " K they shall fall away," 
sounds as if the doctrine of Christians falling from 
grace and perishing in hell, were indeed true ; but 

13 



290 APPENDIX. 

it does not prove it. Rom. viii., 7, " Because the 
carnal mind is enmity to God," sounds as though the 
mind itself were sinful, and essentially hatred 
towards God ; but it merely proves that the actions 
of the mind, in the case of the sinner, are opposed 
to God. Matt, xvi., 18, " Thou art Peter, and on 
this rock I will build my church," is often quoted to 
prove that the church is founded on Peter. Alas ! 
if it had been, it had long since perished. " As in 
Adam all die " — 1 Cor. xv., 22, sounds as though all 
mankind were seminally, legally, personally alive in 
Adam, and died in his death ; but no train of ideas 
was so infinitely distant from the thoughts of the 
Apostle. According to his meaning, transparent on 
the very face of his words, in their proper connec- 
tion, no such absurd transcendentalisms can be got 
out of them. Something more than sound is 
required to prove a doctrine from Scripture. 

2. It is not enough to quote passages quoted by 
others. This is blindly trusting to authority ; but if 
we may judge from some conspicuous examples, 
authority in such matters is very like a broken reed. 
The Westminster theologians quote James iii., 2, 
" in many things we offend all," to prove that no man 
can keep the commandments of God; it proves, 
simply that all men sin ; but is wholly silent as to 
their inability. By the same theologians, 1 John 



HOW TO PROVE A DOCTEINE. 291 

v., 7, is quoted to prove the doctrine of tlie Trinity ; 
and yet that passage, it is well known, does not 
belong to John's Epistle at all. Jas. v., 16, '^Con- 
fess yonr faults one to another," is quoted to prove 
the doctrine of the confessional ; but it actually dis- 
proves it, by proving that Christians are to acknow- 
ledge their faults to one another, without reference 
to priests. Eom. ii., 11, "There is no respect of 
persons with God," is quoted to prove the salvation 
of all men ; it simply means that God does not pre- 
fer Jews to Gentiles, but is equally just to all. 
1 Tim. ii., 5, " There is one God and one Mediator 
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus," is 
quoted to disprove the divinity of our Lord; it 
proves only his humanity, and says nothing about 
his divinity. So it requires something more than 
the mere repetition of oft quoted texts to prove a 
doctrine from the word of God. 

3. Neither is it sufficient to quote a text proving 
only something implied in the doctrine. A thing 
implied in a doctrine is not the doctrine. 

There lies before us the examination sermon of 
the Eev. Naph. Daggett, D.D., professor of divi- 
nity in Yale College, in 1756 ; and also his Latin 
exegesis, written out legibly and very neatly in his 
own hand-writing, and now more than one hundred 
years old. The latter is on the question, " Did the 



293 APPEimix. 

human sonl of Christ exist previous to the incarna- 
tion ?" The author takes the affirmative, and quotes 
Col. i.5 15, " The first born of every creature ;" John 
xvii.5 5, " O5 Father, glorify thou me with thine 
own self with the glory which I had with thee 
before the world was ;" John vi., 62, " What and if 
ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was 
before," to prove his doctrine. But though these 
texts do indeed prove certain things implied in the 
pre-existence of Christ, previous to the incarnation, 
they by no means prove the pre-existence of his 
human soul. 

The same imperfect logic is very common. For 
instance, to prove that the sin of our first parents is 
laid to the charge of all their posterity, a text is 
quoted to prove all men sinners. But all men may 
be sinners, in many ways, without its being true 
that God charges them all with the guilt of the first 
sin. Again. To prove that Christians actually fall 
away in many cases, and perish in hell, texts are 
quoted (we suppose because no others can be found) 
proving that Christians may possibly fall away and 
perish. You have not proved any man a thief, by 
proving his ability to steal. So of the divinity of 
our Lord ; you have not disproved it, by quoting 
one, or any number of texts proving that he was 
man. For one text, and there are many such, 



HOW TO PROVE A DOCTRIOTI. 293 

asserting that he was God, settles the question. To 
prove some shred, or fragment of a doctrine is not 
enough. When the ostrich hides its head in the 
sand, it is not quite covered from the sight, nor safe 
from the arrow of the hunter. Alas ! how often men 
play the ostrich, with their doctrines and the Bible. 

4. To prove a doctrine from Scripture, you must 
find the sense of Scripture, asserting the whole doc- 
trine, in the same, or equivalent terms, in all its 
length and breadth, clearly and not in such a way 
as to require any labored efforts to make the proof 
appear. The doctrine and the Scripture must be 
one and the same proposition, in sense, and not in 
words only. This perfect agreement, or coincidence 
between the proof and the thing to be proved, is the 
only solid foundation on which all doctrines must 
rest. 

It may indeed turn out that you will find it neces- 
sary to remove some ambiguity from the text, or some 
objection alleged on the strength of its authority ; 
but, if there are texts plainly and unequivocally 
asserting the doctrine, to be found, these are always 
to be taken in preference to any others. For any 
process of interpretation, however well conducted, 
will throw a shade of doubt on the point to be 
proved. There is a natural and strong conviction 
in the minds of most men, that perspicuity and 



294 APPENDIX. 

directness belong to the Word of God, dispensing 
with all elaborate efforts to explain it. 

If the doctrine to be proved passes by a name not 
known in the Bible, a name perhaps, that has arisen 
in controversy, or through convenience, then it may 
be necessary to state it in its simplest elements, so 
that the quotations from Scripture may exactly 
cover it. Thus the doctrine of the Trinity is not 
known by that name in the Bible, but when we 
state it in its simplest form, it is precisely covered 
and proved by Matt, xxviii., 19, "In the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." So 
also, of the doctrine of total depravity. It is not 
found in Scripture under that name ; but it is estab- 
lished fully by the words — "There is not a just man 
upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not;" 
" There is none righteous, no not one." 

To prove a doctrine then, from the Bible, we must 
establish a manifest oneness of meaning between the 
Scripture and the doctrine. Unless this is done, 
nothing is done. Nor can we refrain from saying, 
that all our investigations into confessions of faith, 
have deeply impressed us with the conviction, that 
in this respect, they are remarkably deficient. They 
often quote passages constituting no proof of their 
doctrines whatever. Much of the quotation in the 
pulpit is also of the same character. It is a standing 



HOW TO PROVE A DOCTRINE. 295 

complaint that candidates for the ministry are defi- 
cient in this particular ; and the occasion of it, pro- 
bably is, the purely metaphysical method pursued 
in their instruction. 

This is a subject deserving the special attention 
of all Sabbath school teachers and students of the 
Bible. No attainment is so earnestly to be desired, 
as that of being able to quote directly and pointedly 
the proof texts of all our doctrines, from the Scrip- 
tures. It is an indispensable qualification of every 
religious teacher. How much evil is done, how 
many good opportunities are lost, for lack of it ! 
With what power does the serrnon appeal to the 
hearer's heart, when the perfect harmony between 
it and the Bible is made clearly and undeniably to 
appear. 



296 APPENDIX. 



in. 



OTHER SYSTEMS. 



It formed no part of our original design to speak 
of the labors of others, only in the most general 
terms ; yet it may serve as some apology for what 
we have attempted, in this treatise, and as a criterion 
of our correctness, to notice somewhat briefly, the 
rules laid down by some recent writers on this 
science. In our sketch of the history of Interpreta- 
tion, it was manifest, the importance of having a 
general system of principles was very early under- 
stood. All indeed, who have made any serious 
attempt to study the Bible, have confessed the value 
of such a system. 

It was only after we had completed our list of 
Axioms and Eules, in this treatise, that the desire 
arose in our mind to know what principles had been 
proposed by interpreters in Great Britain and this 
country, from the revival of Biblical study in the 
last century, to our own times. This would bring 



OTHER SYSTEMS. 297 

the progress of tlie science more directly under our 
eye ; and enable the student and reader to judge of 
the various principles which have been, from time 
to time, employed, by the leading expositors of the 
Word of God. 

Our chapter must not run to an unreasonable 
length, and therefore we shall select only a few 
names, as a specimen of others, more or less known 
in the religious and literary world. 

DK. JOHN BEOWN. 

He was the cotemporary of Doddridge, and Dod- 
dridge immediately succeeded Matthew Henry, 
deservedly known as the " Great Commentator." 
Brown, in his self-interpreting Bible, a work which 
keeps its place yet in the hands of thousands, has 
given a series of rules for the work of interpretation. 
He was probably led, both to the idea of a self -inter- 
preting Bible, and to that of arranging a series of 
exegetical laws, from the fact that neither Henry 
nor Doddridge had condescended to any such under- 
taking. He was proverbially a sagacious and good 
man ; whose sound common sense and cool judg 
ment raised him to a level with the best critics and 
expounders of the Bible. The following are his 
Eules, somewhat abbreviated. 



298 APPENDIX, 

1. Let us pray fortlae influence of the Holy Spirit. 

2. Being renewed in our minds, we onglit to 
search the Bible. 

3. We mnst earnestly study to reduce all our 
Scriptural knowledge to practice. 

4. We must begin in an orderly manner, proceed- 
ing from the plain, to the obscure. 

5. "We must form in our minds a brief collection 
of the most plain histories, doctrines, laws, &c., that 
they may serve as a criterion for our understanding 
the others. 

6. Not only must every passage be understood, 
in harmony with the analogy of the faith, but 
with the scope and tendency of the book, or chap- 
ter, where it is found. 

7. Yarious texts must be compared. 

8. We ought not to content ourselves with any 
general view of any text, but search out what it 
intends. 

9. Christ being the great subject and end of 
Scripture, we ought everywhere to search, if we can 
find him. 

10. As to the infinite mind of the Holy Spirit, 
every subject and every event are at once perfectly 
in view. His words ought always to be understood in 
the fullest latitude of signification, that the analogy 
of the faith, and of the context, can admit. 



OTHER SYSTEMS. 299 

11. It is necessary to have the principles of poe- 
try, and of prophecy, and of figurative language, 
fixed on our minds. 

12. Where the writers contradict each other, we 
must labor to discover their harmony. 

13. To obtain an exact knowledge of the Scripture, 
it is necessary to know the geography of the country, 
and the chronology, and history of the nation. 

14. We must peruse the original Scripture, in 
humility of mind. 

On a review of these rules, we are disposed to 
infer that their author had not entertained very dis- 
tinctly before his mind, the essential nature of a 
rule of interpretation. A rule is something diverse 
from a direction how to use it, or, a good advice how 
to prepare our minds for the work of exegesis. It 
must be a proposition, compelling our assent, as appro- 
priate to, and worthy of its object. It must have an 
axiomatic force, so as to confirm our decisions, when 
they are right, and reprove, and restrain us, when 
they are wrong. Some of the above rules are cer- 
tainly not at all fitted for a safe interpretation. 

DK. SAMUEL DAVIDSON. 

Our limits compel us to pass to the notice of a liv- 
ing writer, Dr. Samuel Davidson, of England; who 



300 APPENDIX. 

has however given more attention to this science, 
than any other individual in his denomination. He 
is a thorough scholar, and deeply skilled in the 
higher criticisms of the Bible. But it is quite doubt- 
ful, whether his heavy volume will commend itself 
to the popular mind, as a satisfactory and useful help 
to the interpretation of the Scriptm'es. Only one 
section of 95 pages, out of 750, has been devoted to 
the most important topic of the book — the statement 
and illustration of the principles of interpretation. 
And what is even more remarkable, when we come 
to discover what these principles are, we find he has 
but one ; expressed in one short sentence : " the 
usus loquendi^ or usage of the writers, must be ascer- 
tained." 

But without controversy, this must be a wonder- 
ful principle, if through its aid alone, the whole 
Bible is to be explained. It must have an omnipo- 
tent eflTect, to accomplish that, on which huge folios 
have been expended. 

It is in truth but sending us to the study of the 
usage of the Bible, before attempting to ascertain 
what the Bible means. We must first be sure of the 
usage, then we can proceed to interpretation. But 
this is introducing us to a new science, in place of 
instructing us in one that we desire to understand. 

He was fully aware of this, and he has therefore 



OTHER SYSTEMS. 301 

occupied by far the greater part of the section, in show- 
ing how the usage is to be ascertained. Doubtless it is 
of very great importance to know the usus loquendi; 
but the practical question arises, would a person, for 
instance, acquainted with the usage of the English 
language, be, ijpso facto^ qualified for the interpreta- 
tion of any book, say on English jurisprudence? 
We think not. There are many things, besides mere 
roots, and uses of words, which enter into the science 
of interpretation. There is the relation of one car- 
dinal truth to another, the relation of one argument 
to another; and the primary meaning of words, a 
thing in itself distinct from usage — and are all these 
to be disregarded ? Who can make himself believe 
that mere usage exhausts the whole science of inter- 
pretation ? when in truth it is only a mere accessory. 
The merits of this treatise by Dr. Davidson, do 
not lie in its presenting a safe and comprehensive 
system of ultimate principles, such as must serve to 
guide us in our attempts to understand the Sacred 
Yolume. Its sketch of the history of the science, is 
learned and interesting; and its quotations of the 
Old Testament, in the New, are full and instructive ; 
but the volume itself will not serve to popularize the 
science of interpretation. Men of the schools should 
lead the popular mind, and not be dead weights on 
its progress ; they should make it fab \a love vrith 



302 APPENDIX. 

the science, and not be for ever studying to remove 
it out of the way of their comprehension. 



a. J. PLAKCK. 

It may be well to select one German system of 
modern times, as a specimen, at least, of a class 
of interpreters in that country, greatly on the 
increase, and in whose success we feel the deepest 
fraternal interest. We select that of Prof. G. J. 
Planck, translated by Dr. Turner, of New York. 
His principles are : 

1. Seek the literal sense of every passage, as it 
must be afforded, either by the general usage, or by 
one peculiar to the writer. 

2. That is always the true sense of the sacred 
writer, which, either alone, or at least, as the most 
natural sense, could be suggested by his expressions 
to the men for whom he wrote. 

3. Constant reference must be had to the character 
and views, and known principles of the writer. 
" These three general laws, comprise almost all that 
can be prescribed to interpreters." 

Such a system is too general to be useful. It dis- 
poses of the whole subject in too summary a manner, 
to be satisfactory. It leaves us wholly in the dark 



OTHER SYSTEMS. SO 



o 



on a multitude of points, where we most deeply feel 
the need of some practical principles to guide us. 
It is as though we were inquiring of this author, the 
way to a certain place within a few miles, and he 
should gravely give us direction to follow the sun, 
or Tieep the North pole in our eye. 

B. B. EDWAIUDS. 

We return to our own country ; and here, the first 
name that should with propriety meet us, is that of 
the true hearted chieftain, Moses Stuart. But apart 
from his translation of Ernesti's dry and dull trea- 
tise, we are not aware, that he has left anything of 
his own, in the shape of a series of rules in this 
science. He was wont to say, "the interpretation 
of language, is as natural to man, as the use of it, 
and that the laws of interpretation are the practical 
principles, by which men have always been guided, 
in interpreting each other's language." Now the 
collecting and arranging of these principles, we 
regard as a thing very much to be desired. It would 
prove a guide to the inexperienced, and a check on 
the um-uly. Above all, it would deliver us, after so 
long a time, from the deadly influence of a mere tra- 
ditionary interpretation. For the principles of such 
a system are fundamental, and independent of all 



304 APPENDIX. 

human autliority ; tliey existed before tlie Fathers ; 
and if the Fathers have interpreted the Bible con- 
trary to these principles, then we forsake the Fathers, 
and cleave to the principles. They only can guide 
us right ; and by their help, we shall be able to give 
a reason for the faith that is in us. 

We are only sorry that the first of American Bib- 
lical students, did not himself leave us such a sys- 
tem. His successor, B. B. Edwards, in an article on 
the subject, gives us the following : 

1. All true interpretation, is founded on grammar 
and lexicography. 

2. Biblical science recognizes the fundamental 
importance of historical interpretation. 

3. Another principle relates to the harmony of 
the Scriptures, with the discoveries of natural science. 

4. The Bible is to be interpreted in perfect consis- 
tency with the laws of the human constitution. 

5. The interpreter must feel real sympathy with 
the truths he is studying. 

As a logical apparatus, having in view the science 
of Biblical interpretation, these principles are cer- 
tainly defective. As propositions, they are not suffi- 
ciently defined, to be of much practical value ; they 
should have a sharper edge, to do good service in 
this work. 



OTHEE SYSTEMS. 305 

PROF. A. NORTON-. 

He was a leader in his sect ; a man of polite learn- 
ing, and of some depth in the literature of criticism, 
though not without some signs of being superjScial, 
and narrow in his views. Although the difference 
between the followers of his creed, and the great 
body of evangelical iuterpreters, are by Unitarians 
sometimes said to arise in the very nature of truth 
itself; yet on their own admission, many of these 
differences are owing to the interpretations forced 
on the Sacred Scriptures. The science of hermeneu- 
tics therefore, has not escaped their notice ; and they 
have said, that by this means, they can successfully 
overthrow the orthodox faith. Prof. Norton, in his 
statement of reasons, for rejecting the orthodox 
views of christian doctrine, presents us with the fol- 
lowing rules, by which we are to be guided, in 
ascertaining the sense of the Scriptures : 

1. Where the words are capable of more than one 
meaning, the true meaning is to be determined, 
solely by a reference to extrinsic considerations. 

2. The words themselves can afford us no assistance 
in determining the meaning intended by the 
writers. 

3. We may reject the literal meaning of a passage, 



S06 APPEKDIX. 

when we cannot pronounce with confidence, what is 
its true meaning. 

These are Unitarian principles of interpretation. 
The first thought that arises in our mind, when 
reflecting on them, is, with such a sj^stem of rules, 
what must have been the author's creed ? Nay, with 
such rules, could he have had any settled creed at 
all ? His last principle puts the literal meaning in 
every case, at the mercy of all who are unwilling to 
receive it. If we are not confident of its true mean- 
ing, we may reject it. Who, with any remaining 
reverence for the Bible, would embrace such a prin- 
ciple of exegesis, as that ? 

The second principle, is a denial of one of the 
plainest of all facts, in respect to a revelation, viz. : 
" the sufficiency of words, to convey the meaning of 
an inspired writer." It was on this very principle, 
unfortunately, but inevitably, that the author of 
" God in Christ," alighted, when on his brief jour- 
ney from the faith of his fathers. His introduction 
is an elaboration of the principles of ISTorton. Did it 
not grow out of a kindred fact in both minds ? — ^the 
fact, that both refused to receive simpliciter the 
inspiration of the record? If the words are of no 
sufficient aid in respect to the meaning, where is the 
meaning to be ascertained? In all honesty, to inter- 
pret the Bible on such principles, is practically to 



OTHER SYSTEMS. 307 

renounce all candor, and affirm onr purpose of inter- 
preting it according to our caprice only. Socinus 
said of our Lord's divinity, " seeing the thing itself 
cannot be, I take the least inconvenient interpreta- 
tion of the words ;" and this is an honest confession 
of the cardinal principle of all such errors as the 
denial of the Godhead of the Saviour. They are 
obliged to adopt it, or receive the doctrine they hate. 
They say, "the thing cannot be," and revelation 
itself is silenced. But we submit, is this reverential ? 
Can faith in the Word of God consist with such 
principles ? It were altogether more consistent with 
the principles of honesty for those who seriously 
adopt such principles, to say at once, " the authority 
of the Bible, we do not admit ;" for in that case, the 
world would know where they stood. But this pro- 
fessing to submit to the Bible, and at the same 
moment rebelling against its authority, is unworthy 
of any sincere mind. Either the Bible is the stan- 
dard of faith, or it is not. If it is not, then there is 
an end to all discussion on such points as those above 
mentioned. But if it is, then in all its clear and unam- 
biguous statements, whether they be such as reason 
can discover, or such as lie beyond the limits of its 
powers, we are bound to the simple course of accept- 
ing them without a moment's hesitation. The very 
highest honor and reverence belongs to the Bible ; 



308 APPENDIX. 

and we have yet to know the man, willing to accept 
the supremacy and inspiration of the Bible, who did 
not stand immeasurably removed from the creed of 
Unitarianism. A child-like disposition in reference 
to the reception of the plain and obvious sense of 
the Scriptures, is a strait gate, through which no 
Unitarian can enter, without casting away his beset- 
ting sin. 

PROP, m'clelland. 

The latest book, in a systematic form, on this 
science which we notice, is from the pen of Prof. 
M'Clelland, of New Brunswick Seminary, "N. J. 
It has been adopted in one or two theological schools ; 
although Dr. Davidson, of England, says of it, " It 
need scarcely be said that it will not advance the 
the science of hermeneutics, nor be very acceptable 
to theologians. A great part of the subject, has 
been left untouched." Sac. Her. p. 711. 

There is an attempt at wit, in this book, which 
strikes us as very much out of place. But we are 
astonished, that out of 236 pages, only 146 are 
devoted to the subject of interpretation! A glance 
at the maxims and rules, is all that our limits allow. 
His maxims are four. 1. The object of interpreta- 
tion is to give the precise sense of the writers. 



OTHER SYSTEMS. 309 

2. The method of interpreting the Bible, must be the 
same which we apply to any other book. 3. The 
sense of Scripture is (in general) one ; we must not 
assign many meanings to a passage. 4. Interpreta- 
tion of Scripture requires suitable preparation. 

His " special rules " are eleven. 1. Carefully 
investigate the usus loquendi, 2. Examine the par- 
allel passages. 3. The consideration of the author's 
scope helps interpretation. 4. Examine the context. 
5. We must know the character, age, sect, and other 
peculiarities of the writer. 6. Let there be a con- 
stant appeal to common sense. 7. Study the tropes 
and figures. 8. Attend to the Hebrew idioms. 
9. Much of Scripture being prophetical, we should 
acquaint ourselves with the nature and laws of that 
kind of composition. 10. Allow no interpretation, 
that will cast a shade of doubt over the perfect 
purity of our Lord's teachings, or those of his 
apostles. 11. We must study and apply the art of 
criticism. 

It does not become us to say, all that might be 
said, of these maxims and special rules. We leave 
them, rather, to the judgment of our readers. But 
we cannot dismiss this portion of our book, without 
an expression of a conviction already uttered, that 
many who have written on this important subject, 
have not settled in their own minds, what is the true 



310 APPENDIX. 

nature and form of a law in this science. Proposi- 
tions, in the above instance, are placed among the 
maxims, which have no relation to the science, what- 
ever; and mere advice is set down among the 
special rules, as though it were a first truth, or a 
decision of universal common sense, to which all 
must submit ! Surely this is not what the science of 
interpretation demands. Neither the nature of the 
case, nor the laws of sound logic, require any such 
course as this. From the above imperfect treatise, 
as well as from some other facts, we strongly' incline 
to the belief, that this cardinal science, on which so 
much depends, in reference to the spread of the 
Gospel, and the victory of the kingdom of God, over 
the ignorance and perverseness of men, is but very 
little understood ; there is certainly very much to be 
done, even in this country, before it is made to 
occupy the pre-eminence which belongs to it, both 
in the pulpit, and in the theological seminary. The 
blessings of a grateful Church, will follow the man, 
who wins for the science of interpretation, its proper 
place, and becoming honor, in the minds of those 
who love the Bible, and who receive it with all 
joy, as the infallible Word of God. 



PKESENT STATE OF EXEGESIS. oil 



IV. 



THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF EXEGETICAL IN- 
STKrCTION IN OUR THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. 

The relation of the iiistrnction given in our theo- 
logical seminaries, to correct interpretation of the 
Scriptures, cannot but be very close. It is all but 
mathematically certain, that the student will carry 
with him into the sacred desk, the principles and 
spirit of his instructor in this science ; so that for all 
the purposes of a high moral influence on the minis- 
try, and on the people, whom the ministry serve in 
the Gospel, there is no station so full of responsi- 
bility, none so important, in its influences for good, 
or for evil, as the station of the professor of sacred 
hermeneutics. He gives currency to whatever laws 
of interpretation he may adopt ; and they find their 
way speedily, into every Christian congregation in 
the land. K he inspires his pupils with right prin- 
ciples ; if he infuses into their minds a right enthu- 



312 AI^PENBIX. 

siasm for the science itself; it is well, lie has dis- 
charged his duty. But if, on the other hand, the 
professor fails to kindle in the student's mind a pro- 
per zeal for this subject, if he wastes his time on 
points of but little practical importance, if he pro- 
ceed in his instructions with more regard to details, 
and the mere preliminaries of the science, and thus 
leaves his scholars really ignorant of its grand and 
fundamental principles, to begin the preaching of 
the Gospel, without a familiar knowledge of the laws 
by which the sense of the Word of God is to be 
ascertained, he is altogether at fault, his influence is 
injurious. 

"We hold that, to the student of theology, this 
science is decidedly the most important of all. It is 
the basis of all sound doctrine. There is no authority 
for any doctrine from the pulpit, if it be not found 
in the records of inspiration. To know that it is 
there, is the student's only passport to the sacred 
desk. He ascends that desk to preach the preach- 
ing that the Bible bids him. But how shall he do 
this, if he does not first understand the art of inter- 
preting the Bible ? If he fails in this respect, we 
see not what authority he can have to opens his lips, 
as an ambassador of Christ. 

Here then arises, therefore, an important inquiry, 
which we suggest with all deference : How, or by 



PRESENT STATE OF EXEGESIS. 313 

what methods, are our young men tanght to inter- 
pret the Holy Scriptures ? This is not the question, 
who are the instructors, and what are their qualifi- 
cations? If pressed to answer such an inquiry as 
this last, we would say without hesitation, that some 
of the profoundest scholars of the age occupy the 
chairs of Biblical exegesis and literatm^e, in our 
theological seminaries. We can say more. At no 
previous period have the subsidiary helps to Scrip- 
tural interpretation been so complete, nor so perfectly 
within the reach of all interested in this noble study. 
Never have the libraries of exegetical literature 
been so ample, as they are now. The grammars and 
lexicons of the original languages of the Bible, have 
arrived at a state of perfectness, such as no age of 
the world has ever witnessed. And never has the 
importance of Biblical science been so universally 
felt, and acknowledged by all classes. 

The question, therefore, is not an irrelevant one. 
It connects itself very closely with the subject of this 
book, and with the interests of true and undefiled 
religion. It is: by what methods are our young 
men instructed in the important, and fundamental 
science of ascertaining the meaning of the Word of 
God? 

We desire that two things may be taken for 
granted, in this inquiry: that there is a science, 



314 APPENDIX. 

strictly and properly called the science of interpreta- 
tion, with its axioms and laws, ascertained and 
classified, or capable of being ascertained and classi- 
fied, like the axioms and laws of any other science ; 
and that there is a class of men professedly engaged 
in teaching this science. Our inquiiy is, as to the 
methods these instructors pursue in the course of 
their profession ? What are the facts in this case ? 
In reply, it may be stated, that the first thing in the 
way of instruction in this science, to which the stu- 
dent's attention is directed, is the acquisition of the 
Hebrew language. But the acquisition of the 
Hebrew language is not necessarily connected with 
the science of interpretation, in our view of the 
matter, any more than the acquisition of any other 
language whatever. It enables the student to read 
the Scriptures in Hebrew, that is all ; or, we might 
add, it enables him to judge of the correctness of 
the common translations of the Bible, and perhaps 
a better appreciation of the rhetorical force and 
beauty of the Scriptures generally. But it certainly 
does not impart to him the first maxim, or law of the 
science of interpretation. With a perfect knowledge 
of the Hebrew, equal to that of his mother tongue, 
he is yet a stranger to the first elements of this 
science. Do all Jews, who, by their education, 
speak and write Hebrew, as we speak and write 



PRESENT STATE OF EXEGESIS. 315 

English, understand the principles of interpretation, 
just in virtue of their knowing the language in 
which the Old Testament was WTitten? Yerily no 
one will pretend that they do. The acquisition of the 
Hebrew is very w^ell in its place; but it is not 
essentially necessary in the study of the particular 
science before us ; at least, no more so, than is the 
acquisition of the English itself. 

But when some little progress is made by the stu- 
dent, in the rudiments of this ancient language, he 
is then introduced, either to the reading of extracts, 
or of the Hebrew Bible itself, as the second step in 
his course. Of course, this is all well ; but even in 
this exercise, the chief point is not the unfolding of 
the principles of exegesis, in an orderly and logical 
manner. The object is to perfect the pupil in the 
grammar of the Hebrew language, to impart a 
greater facility in his pronunciation, and the correc- 
tion, it may be, of some loose phrase in our common 
English translation. Up to this moment, there has 
been no positive approach to the science itself. All 
this training, and it generally occupies many months, 
the student might have received in the common 
school, without the least suspicion, that he was 
receiving instruction in the science of interpretation. 

The meanwhile, the same course has been pro- 
gressing in reference to the New Testament in 



316 APPENDIX. 

Greek ; with this difierence, that the student is sup- 
posed to be abeady master of this language. He is 
therefore called on, at the outset, to translate cer- 
tain passages, of a particular book in course ; and 
haying a lexicon of the New Testament, he is ques- 
tioned as to the different meanings there given, of 
the most important words occurring in the text. As 
a part also of this exercise, extemporaneous remarks 
are made by the professor, and in latitudes, where lib- 
erty of speech is freer than in others, questions are put 
by the student, in respect to the meaning of the pas- 
sage, or of the more prominent difficulties it contains. 
The same course is pursued, though if memory 
serves, not so frequently, nor with such minute- 
ness, in the case of the Hebrew Bible. For in this 
latter instance, the pupils rarely attain to the same 
facility, which they exhibit in regard to the Greek. 
The Hebrew language is more fugitive, and difficult 
of acquisition ; and students have less disposition to 
discuss difficulties, where a thorough knowledge of 
the language is wanting. To get through a tolerably 
ready translation, and showing the construction of 
the chief words, is usually the extent of their 
anxiety. 

Now, it is admitted, that these exercises and 
extemporaneous criticisms, by the professor, are all 
necessary and proper enough. In their nature and 



PRESENT STATE OF EXEGESIS. 317 

tendency, they verge towards tlie science ; but that 
is alL "We cannot be in error, when we say, that 
with all this preparation, the teaching of the science 
has not yet begun. This method is not that of the 
chair of Christian doctrine. Its incumbent would 
first of all, divide his subject into its natural 
divisions. He would confine himself and his pupils 
to the proof of the particular doctrine, which it 
might be his design to establish ; and thus he would 
proceed, until he had gone over the whole system in 
all its parts ; presenting each and all its divisions, as 
skillfully, and with as much power of argument and 
illustration, as he could command. He surely would 
not direct his pupils, Bible in hand, to read certain 
portions of the Scriptures, the discourses of our 
Lord, for example, expatiate on some of their doc- 
trinal bearings, and then dismiss his class, as fully 
instructed in the science of systematic theology. 
And yet it might be, that in this way, the entire 
systematic platform of doctrines might be surveyed, 
and much useful instruction imparted. But if any 
professor of systematic divinity should pursue this 
method, and none other, he would certainly fail in 
establishing his reputation, as a skillful teacher of 
Christian doctrine. 

Since this treatise has been in process of composi- 
tion, we have taken care to inquire of several, who 



318 APPENDIX. 

had passed the usual term of study, under the very- 
best instructors, as to the methods pursued, and have 
been uniformly answered, either that they pursued 
no particular system, or that they did not distinctly 
recollect, whether they had studied the science at 
all ! The science, as such, had not been impressed 
on their attention. Here is the secret, we believe, 
of the fact, that so many preachers fail in the point 
of connecting their sermons, distinctly and clearly 
with the text, which they announce. And in this 
very particular also, it appears to us, lies another 
secret, viz. : the inefficiency of the great majority 
of discourses, delivered from the pulpit. The power 
of any discourse, for the purposes of convincing and 
converting the soul, lies, more than anywhere else, in 
the clear and undeniable foundation of the discourse 
on the authoritative Word of God. If the sermon 
rest on the text, and cannot be disjoined from it, 
then it will both interest and impress the hearer. 
But is it any wonder, that this is not the case, with 
a vast majority of discourses, when the art of deter- 
mining the meaning of the text is but imperfectly 
understood ? because not adequately elaborated, and 
set forth to their comprehension. 

It has been often noticed, as a matter of complaint, 
that theological students, in many instances, are not 
apt at the quotation of proof texts from the Scrip- 



PRESENT STATE OF EXEGESIS. 319 

tures. But important as tlie ability and aptness to 
quote proof texts undoubtedly is — that they should 
understand the science of interpretation, is vastly 
more important. What other qualification in a min- 
ister, can take the place of this ? And to us, nothing 
is more plain, than the mere knowledge of Greek 
and Hebrew, however perfect, can never impart this 
one indispensable attainment. The knowledge of all 
the languages on earth, could not impart it. It is to 
be taught scientifically, and studied apart, as a thing 
of the first importance, toward which, the mind is to 
be directed in all its disciplined energy. 

The want of logical method is what we deplore. 
It is against a fragmentary, and merely rudimental 
system, that we protest. The details of verbal criti- 
cisms, in our view, are wholly out of place, as a 
substitute for the statement, defence, and illustration 
of the fundamental laws of this precious science. 

But lectm^es are also given to the classes. This is 
a step in the right direction ; yet, if in these lectures, 
the whole subject is discussed, it is more than any- 
thing our experience has aflForded. If they attempt 
an exposition of the science in a comprehensive and 
logical form, independently of the mere grammar 
of the Scriptures, and exhibiting the essential facts 
and laws, on which all men must consistently pro- 
ceed, in their attempts to reach the sense of the 



320 APPENDIX. 

Word of God — it wonld be perfectly satisfactory ; it 
would meet every demand of reason, in the case. 
In reply, we heard it once said : " We confess, there 
is no regular system of rules taught, yet the science 
of interpretation is taught." But if this were true, 
here then would be an exception by itself; for in 
respect to no other branch of knowledge, can the 
same thing be said. Who would think of teaching 
logic, or natural philosophy, or mathematics, or any 
other science whatever, without a system ? without 
regular laws, fixing the boundaries of the various 
particulars, and laying down principles for the 
government of the learner. 

To impart sound and orthodox explanations of cer- 
tain passages of Scripture, to pass under review all 
the difficult passages of the Bible, to guide the stu- 
dent to a thorough acquaintance with the original 
language in which the Bible was v/ritten, may all be 
well enough ; but it is not teaching the science 
of exegesis. When scholars pass through just such 
a training, and then come to the actual duties of 
the sacred desk, they have the art of interpreting 
the Scriptures yet to learn. If a vigorous mind 
carry them forward to a thorough acquisition of this 
science, in its useful and practical form, it is well ; 
they make useful, progressive, and faithful ministers 
of the glorious Gospel ; if indifference in regard to 



PRESENT STATE OF EXEGESIS. 321 

the matter take possession of them, they must lack 
one of the most effective qualifications of the sacred 
ofiice. But it does stand to all reason, that, giv- 
ing up, as they do, three whole years, to the work 
of fitting themselves to be expounders of the Bible, 
" workmen not needing to be ashamed," they should 
be called upon to look this science of interpretation 
directly in the face. It should be insisted on, that 
the acquisition of the original languages is merely 
preliminary, and in no sense a substitute for the 
study and acquisition of the axioms and laws, of a 
profound and fundamental hermeneutics. 

ITeither should students be permitted to suppose, 
that any degree of proficiency in the knowledge of 
languages, will be regarded as equivalent for the 
knowledge of this science. They should be held 
strictly to the fact, that it is a science, having all its 
axioms and laws, as determinate, and as sharply dis- 
tinct, as those of any other science whatever. Even 
systematic divinity itself, however well understood, 
does not dispense with the logical pursuit and 
thorough acquisition of this science. Hermeneutics 
is the first, and altogether the most necessary of the 
sciences, connected with the Christian ministry ; and 
no terms can be found, in which its importance can 
be properly set forth. On the soundness of the 
principles laid down as its fundamental laws, 

14^ 



322 APPENDIX. 

depends, all the purity, consistency, and effectiveness 
of those expositions, which proceed from the pulpit ; 
and our heart can pray for no greater blessing to our 
country and the world, than a wise, well-ordered, 
and Scriptural system of interpretation, inaugurated 
in our theological schools, and urged upon the 
awakened attention, of all candidates for the sacred 
office of the ministry. May divine wisdom be 
poured into the lips of our instructors, and grace 
from the eternal throne guide them, in the responsi- 
ble duties which devolve upon them, as teachers of 
the mysteries of God, to those who go out from 
them, as the teachers of a wayward, and erring gen- 
eration. Amen. 



THE END. 



BOOKS PUBLISHED BY CHAS. SCRIBNER. 



4 Ifew Edition Remsed and Enlarged^ icith a Scriptural Index and Pai-alUl Tabces^ 

WEST^S ANALYSIS OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 

BY BEY, NATHANIEL WEST^ D.D, 

K Complete Analysis of the Holy Bible, containing the whole of the New 
and Old Testaments, collected and arranged systematically in thirty 
"books (based on the work of the learned Talbot), together with an In- 
troduction, setting forth the character of the work, and the immense 
facility this method affords for understanding the Word of God. Also, 
three different Tables of Contents prefixed, and a General Index sub- 
joined, so elaborated and arranged in alphabetical order, as to direct at 
once to any subject required. 1 vol., royal 8vo., about 1000 pages. 
Price, $5 00; in half calf, $6 50; in morocco, extra, $0 00. 

A single glance at the Table of Contents and Index exMbits at once the great value and 
iivailability of the work. In the arrangement, besides the Alphabetical Index, there are 
thirty Books — two hundred and eighty-five chapters, and altogether four thousand one 
hundred and forty-four sections, and the whole so complete as to render every portion ofj 
the work — and thus of the whole Bible — at the perfect command of the inquirer. No other 
work but a complete analysis of the Bible can do this, as it respects every subject taught 
in the Book of God, and hitherto no such analysis has appeared in this country. 

Circulars containing testimonials from the following clergymen, can be had on applica 
tion: 

Rev. Gardiner Spring, D.D., Rev. John M. Krebs, D.D., Rev. R. W. Dickinson, D.D., Rev. 
Joseph McElroy, D.D., Rev. N. Murray, D.D., Rev. James M. Macdonald, Rev. James W 
Alexander, D.D., Rev. W, W. Phihps, D.D., Rev. David EUiot, D.D., Rev. M. W. Jacobus, 
D.D., Rev. H. A. Boardman, D.D., Rev. J. N. McLeod, D.D., Rev. John Knox, D.D., Rev. 
C. C. Van Arsdale, D.D., Rev. George W. Bethune, D.D., Rev. Thomas De Witt, D.D., Rev. 
N. J. Marselus, D.D., Rev. A. T. McGiU, D.D., Rev. E. P. Swift, D.D., Rev. Wm. Paxton, 
Rev. 0. H. Miller, Rev. Wm. M. Engles, D.D., Rev. Joseph H. Jones, D.D., Rev. Wm. Neil, 
D.D., Rev. G. W. Musgrave, D.D., Rev. David McKinney, D.D., Rev. Lewis Cheeseman, 
D.D., Rev. Wm. D. Schenck, Rev. Francis D. Ladd, Rev. Daniel Gaston, Rev. John Ley 
bum, D.D., Rev. C. C. Jones, D.D., Rev. Daniel McKinley, D.D., Rev. C. VanRensselaer,D.D 

From the commendatory notices given by the above clergymen, the following extracts 
have been selected 

The Rev. David Elliot, D.D. L.L.D., of Western Theological Seminary, in an extended 

notice, says : 

*'I feel great freedom in recommending it to the patronage of the Christian public as a 
work of no common merit. Its comprehensive plan, embraciug the whole Bible ; its admi 



rable arrangement reducing it to its elementary principles ; its exact and scientific adj usfc 
ment of topics, assigning to each its proposition ; its lucid exhibition of God's unadulter- 
ated truth, connecting its related parts in one distinct point of vision, combine to render the 
Vfork of one incalculable value to the careful student of the Word of God. With this volume in 
his hand, the unlettered Christian, as well as the instructed Theologian, can learn at once. 
and in a very brief space of time, what the Word of God says in reference to any subject 



if either Faith or Practice. 



Jhe Rev. M. W. Jacobus, D.D., Western Theological Seminary : 

"It is a plain, a sincere, and most intelligent effort to reduce the entire teachings of the 
Holy Scriptures in a methodical form, with no party or theory to promote by the under- 
taking. It is that kind of help to Bible study which the merchant adopts in the L«dger.'* 
It posts up all the things of all the Inspired Books, and all who deal in Scripture truth will 
find this volume an auxiliary to their daily studies. It 'gathers the fragments that noth- 



west's analysis of the holy bible. 



NOTICES OF west's ANALYSIS OF THE HOLY BIBLE. 

mta Rev. Alex. T. McGill, D.D. : 

" This book is just a broad margin for us, profoundly elaborated, and for the most pan 
Judiciously filled ; the best of the kind perhaps ever published in any language. Its great 
convenience will make it welcome. But the best benefit it brings is the comprehensive 
manner in w^hich it indicates the meaning of God's Word at once, by the topic under which 
the text is arranged, and the collation with which it is illuminated by the parallel passages 
fuUy written out for the reader." 

The Rev. Wm. M. ?axton : 

"He presents the Bible as a complete armory, with each weapon of warfare so con- 
veniently classified, and so distiiyttly labeled, that any one can arm himself at will for any 
conflict." 

The Rev. Gardiner Spring, D.D. : 

"I have no doubt that this ' Complete Analysis of the Holy Bible ' is the best thing of the 
kind now extant, or likely to be produced." 

"This work needs no commendation. The most cursory glance at its general struc- 
ture, will show ministers especially, that they cannot afford to dispense with it. It is 
nothing less than the entke Word of God, classified into books, sections, chapters, and 
so arranged, that under each topic may be found all that the Scriptures say on the sub- 
ject. The entire passages are given, so that they need not be looked out, as where a con- 
cordance is used. Such a book will therefore save time, and enrich more thoroughly with 
the treasures of the Bible the preacher's discourses. Sabbath School Teachers will also 
find it an invaluable aid, as indeedj wiU all who wish to have the Word of God interpret 
itself for their instruction and edification." — Presbyterian. 

"It will be invaluable to the Clergyman or Sabbath School Teacher, and full of interest 
and instruction to all who desire to master the contents of this blessed volume. The 
Indexes are exceedingly full and accurate, and greatly enhance the value of the book."-— 
N. Y. EoangelisL 

"This very valuable volume is a work of immense labor and love. It is only necessary 
to look over the indexes of this large and important volume, and to become possessed of 
the plan and its execution on any one subject, to be convinced that the whole work is of 
great merit and value. — JSF. Y. Independent 

"This is o^e of the most important works which has ever appeared in illustration of the 
Holy Scriptures. The compiler deserves, and will doubtless receive the thanks of the 
whole of Christendom for his important work, as its arrangement is applicable to the Bible 
in any language and any version." — Literary World, 

"The whole of the Bibl6 is classified and divided under appropriate headings, so that 
this work is not only an analysis but a concordance and reference Bible of the fullest order. 
We feel that we cannot commend it ■♦•oo warmly. It is the best of pulpit assistants, and a 
book for every family that delights to search the Scriptures." — Christian Intelligencer, 

"It is the Bible itself— the entire Bible, arranged according to subjects. The arrange- 
ment is simple, and one great advantage is, that the passages cited are printed entire, ob- 
viating the necessity of turning to the Bible. It fills an important space which was not 
occupied before by any work sufficiently accurate and comprehensive." — N. Y. Observer, 

" The successful extension of the plan on which this work is constructed, could have 
only proceeded from Herculean labor and painstaking. It will aid the reUgious reader ai 
weU as the professional student." — N. Y. Tribwne. 

" The work seems to us to be next to the Bible itself— the most valuable of all books to 
tlergymen, and almost equally indispensable to jurists and all others who ever have occa- 
sion to fortify an argument by Scriptural authority. Dr. West has produced a work whicC 
will form an^essential part of every library."— iY. Y. Comm^doU, 



3477 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: May 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



I 



